Shaping Contours

It's so easy to get distracted, swept away with every little whim, mine or that of my two little followers, that I forget that I am shaping a world. Every day my hands, heart, and mind work hard to shape a world that will speak life into the hands, hearts, and minds of my children. Some days it falls into place like a dream, other days we batter against each other like the tide coming into shore. It's natural to emotionally smash up against anyone we surround ourselves with on a 24/7 basis, if we didn't test and retest each other's boundaries and capacities for love, forgiveness, mercy, and grace then we would be lacking in truly knowing each other, but there are days we need rest from this to regather, refocus, and re-energize.

So days like today, a day of swinging in the snow where we were alone at the playground, the only ones to venture out of the house while the mini snowballs rained down from the sky, are days of peace. The snow didn't stick to the ground or pile up to reach back into the clouds, but it reminded me of landscapes where it does just that. Places where the contours of the land are filled in, made shapeless and smooth with a creamy covering. That's what makes snowfall so quiet and peaceful, it's as if the world knows that for the time being the ups and downs will all even out.

My soul responded to today's snow much like the rest of creation, the things that cause the mountains and valleys in my life and in my relationships evened out, covered up with the joy of a changing landscape. I know there are some people who don't like change, who shrink back the minute life throws an unexpected turn, but I am not one of them. Instead, I wrap my kids up in their warmest gear and go to the park to swing toward the change. What that brought to us was a day where I could stop shaping my world, stop adding new contours to our family and let the world shape us and lend us some of it's wisdom of rest and acceptance of what life has to offer. Undistracted and newly formed, it was a lovely day.