Three! Drei! Tres! Trzy! Hiru! Tatu! The great snow trifecta.
As I type this, I am looking out our window seeing a light frosting of snow occur a solid layer of ice. It is the third weekend in a row that our part of the country is being hit with a wintery snow mix. I realize some of you are in areas that hav snow for months – but for us, it’s a bit draining.
And as I look at the wonderfully picturesque scene, I realize people see the exact same scene with different responses. First, there are those that see the wonder, the splendor, the beauty. The whiteness has given a cover over the brown, mundane, bare ground. Gone are the blemishes. Covered are the spotty and muddy spots of the yard. All we see is smooth, silky, untarnished white. This early, I don’t even see tire tracks on the road. It’s very peaceful. (This is a picture from our hike in a freak late snow at Zion NPS. AWE inspiring.)
Second, there are those that see fear. They know the slippery ice is just calling for them to attempt to traverse and then fall. The light snow is just a mask to the danger underneath. They may have to drive to work (for some don’t live 75 meters to the front door of their office like I do.) Maybe they saw the news reports of the 100+ car pile up in Fort Worth yesterday and anxiety takes over their whole being. I know I texted my son, who lives in Fort Worth, but he was fine. He worked from home yesterday in their ice storm.
I asked my wife what her first response was to this morning’s precipitation, and she responded. “Nice.” And while I heard peace – she meant fear. She felt nice because she didn’t have to be out in it, she can work from home today. She even prohibited me from walking my 75 meters to the office. She said nice, because her underlying response was fear and she was safe inside.
But third, others experience joy. They see sledding and snow men and frolicking. They see hot cocoa and no school. They see fun.
There are others – opportunities for photo opps, more work for car body repair shops, sidewalks to be shoveled, expensive road treatment for governments, or just another day in paradise. Weathermen see more people watching them instead of the anchors – wohoo! My friend with Verizon – work due to outages. ports of ways to see snow.
So, which is it? Which do you see?
The world is messed up in so many ways when it comes to communicating, because we refuse to see, or can’t even fathom, the other person’s point of view. Some say Trump saw voter suppression or fraud, so he was patriotically and adamantly protecting the voters’ wishes. Others say Trump was being anti-democratic and treasonous, so he was inciting to violence with a false narrative. And while we may never agree, we need to be able to talk things out and should be able to hear others’ points of view. Maybe not agree with but at least hear and perceive. YouTube has banned LifeSiteNews, a popular pro-life news website. Twitter banned Veritas, some say for revealing whistleblower material out of Twitter itself. And more is coming.
My point, we need to realize there are always more ways to look at something. And the person you are talking to may see it in a totally different light. Spend a little time getting to know their POV before dismissing them and their POV.
Be quick to listen and slow to speak. Or as granny use to say, “God gave you two ears and one mouth.”
But for now, I’m just gonna look out my window and see beauty. I will decide later about adjusting the Sunday schedule, for the third week in a row! UGH.
Have a great weekend and stay warm and safe.
Muddy Shoes by Todd 
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