We woke up to first covering of snow this morning. It’s funny how different the reactions in our house were:
- Our middle children: yippee there’s snow! (this would have been followed by the words; “do we have school today?!”, except that we homeschool)
- Our toddler: ” ‘now, Daddy! ‘now! See ‘now, Daddy? ‘now!” (I reckon her s’s will show up soon, perhaps along with a desire to go on the potty!)
- Me: “Snow? Really? Remind me why we live so close to the Arctic Circle!?” (this was after coffee… before coffee it was more like; “Snow? Hurumphmumph. Mumblemumble.”
- Mom: “I hope it melts before people show up for services! What if it freezes over? That could be a problem. Where’s the salt?”
Who was right? Which response was the most appropriate? Well, mine is out of the running. There really is no excuse for being a humbug and there was no utility to be derived from idle speculation about what led people to be crazy enough to settle this far north (and yes, even crazy people need priests). Plus no one speaks mumble this side of the Mason-Dixon line.
My wife’s reqction was very practical. She’s like that. Always looking for a way to pitch in and fix things; it’s one of the many things that I love about her. You might think she’d win the award.
But I think that the amazement of our children still wins. Martha was concerned about many things, but Mary chose the better part. Mary was amazed to have the Messiah in her home; her response was awe and wonder. Yes, the salt does need to be put down and the sidewalk’s cleared, but wouldn’t it be great for those tasks to be more like the anointing of Christ with oil than the busy-ness that Martha was about? All it takes is wonder.
Dostoyevsky (related second hand in The Idiot) said that “Beauty will save the world.” Perhaps, but only if we notice and enjoy (literally “enter into the joy of”) it.
