Contentment...

When I woke up Monday morning, this was the view out my front door:



And this was the view out back:


It was a Winter Wonderland, for certain. What beauty! Of course, being in the South in March and having already gotten a warm spell of weather in the 70's, the snow was quite a surprise. Having been at a pretty huge deficit for wintry precipitation for the past few years, we'd pretty much written off the season and set our sights on spring. Although a nice break from the routine of school and work was welcome, this snowfall met with a bit more ambivalence that the last.

Spring had started. Instead of shoveling sidewalks, our neighbors busily beat the snow off the tender growth on their hedge. While people contemplated putting sheets over the the daffodils that were already blooming, most realized that the blanket of warmth would turn into a literal blanket of snow, crushing the blossoming flowers. There was a grumbly undertone to this snowfall, diminished only by the forecast of 70's returning by the end of the week.

Our last snowfall was a blast. I ran out and played in the snow with my kids. We went sledding and had snowball fights. We took pictures and built snowmen. But this time, guess what I did? I cleaned the house and did laundry. It just wasn't the same.

I started thinking about it and realized that my enjoying Abundant Life often rests on the events of life going as planned, according to each season. Paul's words in Philippians 4 came to mind: "...for I have learned in whatever situation I am in to be content" (v. 11). Learned to be content. There's a blessing to resting right where the Lord has put you. Have you ever noticed that kids love snow no matter when it comes? It doesn't matter if it stops school or work or creates all sorts of delays completing a "To Do" list. If there's snow, they want to be in it, enjoying it for all it's worth... at least around here where we don't have a whole lot of snow.

So take a minute to reflect on your unexpected "snowfall." What's in your season that you didn't see coming? How is the Lord using it to make you slow down and appreciate Him? How is He growing your faith? How is He reaching out to you to cultivate the very intimate relationship He longs to share with His beautiful child? Where is your place of rest... in your circumstances or in your Father? In what areas of your life are you content? In what areas do you lack contentment? Is there anywhere contentment has grown into complacency?

We're still in the season of Lent... the time that we examine our hearts in light of God's Word and ask Him to reveal the dark places and come in and make them clean and bright. What a beautiful moment it is to realize that we're always living in a season of grace.