Struggling through snow

Snow is one of the great joys of the Northland.  Snow seems to create a culture of its own, from snowman to snowmobile.  Yet in the same breath we say we love snow, we also curse snow.  One of the struggles with snow is its removal.  It seems that as much as I love to watch snow fall and enjoy the wonder of God's frozen beauty, the nagging thought in the back of my head is I have to go shovel soon.

Not being one of those mechanized northerners I don't have a snow blower.  As much as I want one, I just can't justify buying one yet, even though it would save a lot of time.  My wife keeps telling me of all the health benefits from shoveling, but I'm the only one out there shoveling.  Though I hear people complain about shoveling and struggling with the snow, I rather enjoy it.  It is usually pretty peaceful out when shoveling.  While shoveling, all I have are my thoughts and of course plenty of snow.

Even being a joyful shoveler, the task is labor intensive and easily wears you down.  As you get worn down physically and mentally, you wonder if the snow is multiplying and if there is an end in sight.  I had one such discouraging episodes of shoveling the other day at the church.

Being the pastor of a small church in the northland does involve wearing a lot of hats and gloves.  We have an emergency exit from the basement to the back of the church.  The problem, it always gets buried when it snows.  It seems that the drifts of snow just love to block off the door.  This exit is particularly important as it is the exit right next to the nursery and children's area.  This path has to be cleared; I love the little ones in our church.

Well as I begin digging from the parking lot to the back door, I start to wonder how long this will take.  It was heavy wet snow and I started to struggle early.  It didn't seem like I was making any progress.  Then as I neared the door a 3 foot drift was in my way.  As I shoveled, I got mad.  There has to be an easier way.  I shouldn't have to struggle to reach my goal of clearing the path.  In that moment of struggle, God hit me with a thought like a ton of bricks.

Path to the back door of the church

"...But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and reaching forward to what is ahead, I purse as my goal the prize promised by God's heavenly call in Christ Jesus.  Therefore, all who are mature should think this way."  Philippians 3:13-15

In order to press on to reach my goal, I have to struggle.  The struggle is the most important part of achieving a goal.  My nature is I want goals and achievements to be easy, no struggle.  But that goes against everything God wants to teach us.  God is more concerned about the struggles along the path of spiritual mature, and then He is about us achieving spiritual maturity.  Don't get me wrong, God wants us to be mature believers in Him.  But in our pursuit to follow hard after Christ, the struggle is the best maturing tool God has to shape us.

I could get a snow blower and zip through this path in 10 minutes.  But I wouldn't have had time to struggle and hear God speak words of encouragement to me.  The fact is there will be more snow to come this winter and there will be plenty of times my faith is challenged.  If I don't take the opportunities to learn from the struggles and get stronger, I will miss what God wants to teach me in the smallest of everyday tasks.

Keep on shoveling and keep on struggling.  God is here to get us through the coldest and toughest of times.  Don't forget to enjoy the snow!

Unburied back door

Height of the snow