Snow Day!!

I just got a call at 6AM that my school is closed today! Wow...a gift of time. I'm going to take my dog for a walk and enjoy some of this beauty (well bundled in my Eddie Bauer boots and wool scarf and thermal mittens! And a friend gave Jessie a Thinsulate coat, too!). Either that or I will light the fireplace and have some cocoa and watch it through the window. Maybe both. Maybe only a very short walk--it looks really nasty out there, cold and wet and a bitter wind... (But I WILL bring my camera with me when I have no choice but to get my dog out to do her business...!)

It's like a dream. Suddenly I have a whole day open before me! My life has just been too frenetic lately. I have had the message from multiple sources -- a sentence here in a book, something I see in a magazine, Weight Watchers last night: -- "S l o w d o w n your life. You are spinning so fast you don't even have time to think. Take some time for yourself." My first thought when she said no school was, "I can go clean the garage!" Yikes. No, I'm going to have a cup of tea and watch the day begin.

I have a deep longing for quiet contemplative time with God. I'm getting started with a spiritual director that I found through someone my sister sees in Wisconsin. The goal is to sit together and learn to be quiet before God and listen to hear His voice. The director gives very little advice; mostly she just asks questions to help focus my thoughts. I'm reading a book called "Holy Invitations" by Jeannette Bakke, and it is putting this longing into words for me. I'm excited about it in a quiet and deepening way. I'm just so tired of rushing.