Hooray! It’s a Snow Day! [CHOOSING JOY]

When I was a kid, at my house, snow days were celebratory!  My mother, who was a school teacher, would rush into my room at 5:30 in the morning squealing with delight to give the news.  Then we would all huddle around the TV until our district name scrolled across the screen just to be sure that we didn’t hear it wrong from the radio.  “Hooray!  It’s a snow day!”  A day to do whatever you want, sharpen your saw, and relax!

Now that I am the mom though, snow days are not at all like they were when I was a kid.  When the streets are icy I am home with three young people who want to be entertained.  I have to weigh my options very carefully.

1. Let them watch TV all day.

Sounds okay at first, but then the Mama-guilt sets in.  Besides, if they watch TV all day, I don’t get to watch what I want to watch.

2. Let them have free play all day.

That sounds great and works for a little while, but it seems that the only thing that my kids like to play is “Destroy Your Bedrooms!”  Then we are left with a huge mess to clean up.

3. Send them outside to play in the snow.

That’s what kids are supposed to do on snow days, right?  Well, I’ve decided that after 30 minutes of getting bundled, 15 minutes of actual outside time, and the mountains of wet laundry created when they come back in, playing in the snow is overrated in my book.

4. Send them up the street to Grandma’s house.

Perfect!  But, darn, I already used that trick this week…

So my only option left at this time of year is to be prepared to entertain no matter what weather God sends our way.  There is no such thing as a routine in January and February in Kentucky. I just have to have Pinterest and a craft closet ready to go like an emergency kit.

In the book of Numbers, we learn that the Israelites had to constantly be watching the cloud above the tabernacle.  If it got up and left, they packed up their things and left too.  If the cloud stayed put, the Israelites stayed still too.  Sometimes the cloud hovered only overnight, sometimes it hovered for days. “At the Lord’s command they encamped, and at the Lord’s command they set out. They obeyed the Lord’s order, in accordance with his command through Moses.” (Numbers 9:23 NIV) They never knew the schedule, but the Bible says that they obeyed.  It’s hard enough managing a family routine with the same home base every day, I can’t image having to pack up and move on a moment’s notice like they did.

Now the Bible doesn’t say that they never grumbled about this disruption.  In fact, the Israelites grumbled a lot while they were in the desert and got into a lot of trouble for grumbling.

So, even though I may find the snow day disruption to our routine difficult, I am going to make the most of it because God decides the weather and expects me to be obedient in living joyfully no matter what.