Blessings Served Cold

 

Blessings Served Cold

The last two cold snaps wear me down. I dislike cold weather more and more as I age. Speaking of age, I just found out that I was trying to make myself a year older. I claimed that I was 77 instead of 76. I guess my mental facilities are slipping. But I will catch up this year in March when I become 77.

It has been my habit ever since I married and had children to keep my driveway open in case of an emergency. So, even as I have aged, I have continued to shovel the snow out of my driveway. I really enjoy the quiet time with the snow silently falling around me. The snow is usually easily removed, even the wetter and heavier. Because of the direction of the wind, snow blows into road and the snowplows clear the drifts and fill the end of my driveway, often three feet deep and about eight feet wide. They solidly pack the ice and snow. It doubles the amount of work for me.

Twice I’ve been blessed to have someone stop, taking pity on me and plow that snow plug out of my drive. The first was several days ago. The guy slowed, cranked down his truck window, and asked if he could help. I had barely started to clear the drive and was thrilled to have someone volunteer to help. In about five minutes, my drive was widened and completely cleared. He refused any payment, saying his boss told him to drive around and look for people who needed their driveways cleaned.

This past Saturday I was out early shoveling a three inch layer of snow and the taller layer of snow at the end of my drive. I spent half an hour outside. The gusts of icy cold wind made my eyeballs feel like they were frozen and my nose poured like a river when I came inside.

Several hours later I looked out my living room window and saw that the snowplows had again plugged the opening of my driveway, 3 feet high deeply pushing it back into my drive. It covered the width of my drive. I felt so discouraged, but knew it needed to get done. Saturday evenings several men from our church gather to pray for each other and for a revival in our church.

Reluctantly I climbed into my heavy clothing to go outside. The wind was still blowing and cold. No sooner did I dig the first scoop before a gentleman in a dark gray truck stopped and asked if he could plow my drive. I was blessed and so thrilled I could have danced. My driveway was cleared and my eyes didn’t have time to freeze.