The Benefits of Snow

Never before has my world been so white. I look outside my window, and all I see is snow.

Snow on the balcony, even, a step beyond where I write. Sure, on a mountain pinnacle, overlooking the next ski trail to carve down a snow-covered mountain, I’ve experienced lots of snow. But the snow in Prague is different. For even though we have a deep blanket of snow now painting the world clean, ever-mysterious Prague is also shrouded with fog. It’s amazing, really. And in my mind, I continuously hear the great song by U2, "No Line on the Horizon", because of the fitting name for my white world. There truly is no horizon line.

A few days ago, the thought occurred to me that I love living in a place with distinct seasons. Without four dramatic changes, I feel as if I haven’t had a year. But winter—well, it’s easy to bemoan, but I think it also has a few great benefits.

I’m quickly learning that to “drive” through two feet of unplowed snow is remarkably similar to off-roading. Fun, sometimes.

In winter, we can hibernate. All the usual demands of daily life somehow fade into winter’s chill. And we can rest, if we let ourselves.

Winter transforms the normal into a magical world of fairy-dust snow and architectural hoarfrost.

We can be kids again: skiing, sledding, snowshoeing, ice skating, and countless hours making snowmen, snow forts, snow angels … winter brings an uncommon youthfulness, one I cherish.

Winter ushers in quiet time for reading by the fire, steaming coffee to warm hands and friendships, and soft blankets under which we can snuggle little ones.

Winter gives us time to catch our breath and reprioritize the pieces of life most important.

Oh—and winter is a perfect time to write. So while I cozy up with a latte, blanket, and laptop to write, I’m grateful for winter and the opportunities it brings … time to slow down and fill back up.

Enjoy the snow ... -Jennifer

Starting the conversation: What do you appreciate about winter?
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Using Distraction for Good

Distraction: /di strakshen/ n: something that diverts attention, something that interferes with concentration or takes attention away from something else.

This week, I’ve worked very hard at creating and polishing the synopsis for a novel. It’s been great fun (because I love this stuff!), but also was difficult considering the distractions thrown my way. We were able to buy cars here in the Czech Republic over the past few days, which honestly is an enormous relief and blessing. And also, at the end of our quiet Prague street, a laugh-out-loud situation unfolded involving a neighbor’s clogged sewer line, and the maintenance guy stripped down to his skivvies spraying raw sewage with a pump into the neighbor’s yard. Yes, that was quite a distraction.

These days, surely I’ve adapted to many of the constant disruptions characterizing the life of a mom of three boys. Despite the accidents resulting from being distracted—the raging oven fire, diapers and crayons and other things thrown into the laundry, etc.—our lives haven’t suffered too much from my mistakes.

But on a personal level, I’ve had to deal quite a bit with the long streamer of distractions perpetually stuck to my heel. There are always committees for which I’m asked to volunteer, groups to join, shopping to do, parties to throw. By the end of each day, it would be so easy to miss out on spending time with the people and doing the things that we love. Maybe that is my definition of distraction: those things which take us away from the people and activities we love most. The pieces of life which pull us in a million directions, and lure us from excellence into mediocrity I also call distractions, because our attention is constantly pulled from the main thing.

Each of us has a different definition for the main thing, for mediocrity, for goals, and life, and living, and thriving. And each of us has to find a balance if we want to become excellent at a few main things, rather than spread thin to cover everything. Ordering Your Private World, by Gordon MacDonald, is a tremendous book for guidance on finding and pursuing the main things, and gaining order in our own worlds.

I think there is one benefit of distraction, however. We are able to long for the main things when we’re distracted. I find when I’m tending to the other things in our lives that need my attention, the anticipation within me builds, waiting for time to immerse myself in the main things, like writing, or spending time with my family.

Life will always be filled with distractions. Perhaps, though, in turning the distractions into good, as springboards into the things in our lives that matter to us most, then we can find peace with the distractions, and harmony with the daily-ness of living.

Lopsided or Balanced?

After a week spent with my toes in the powdered-sugar sand bordering the turquoise waters of the Florida panhandle, I feel refreshed. I don’t know if it’s the rhythmic crashing of the powerful ocean or the endless sand-scrub that does the job, but after a week of constructing sandcastle villages, delving into many books, and soaking in pristine sunsets, I have not an ounce of adrenaline left. The surprisingly wonderful gift of no cell phone or internet access certainly helped, as did the therapeutic sunshine, but the beach vacation for me is always a respite from life.

Today, I am back in the game, and wearing shoes—a start, at least, to reentering the daily-ness of life. But, having time to step away, I came back with renewed vigor for the endless search for balance in life.

Balance. A formidable word, for sure, for how do we really start to find balance?

In my mind, balance is never really achieved, though it is a goal always worth striving for – a sort of integration of the important pieces of a life to fit into a pleasing whole. The place where one element is counterbalanced by another element of life, the opposite effect being lopsided.

So many things become easily lopsided in my world. So many things to juggle: work, family, kids’ schedules, relationships, personal needs, volunteering and involvements, and on and on and on. At the end of the day, it’s easy to sit down and realize so many more things tug at me for my time than I can possibly ever fit into one day. Back to balance.

Saying no is very difficult, especially for some of us. But, saying no to some things is also essential to finding a pleasant balance in life. Choosing one thing over another is the key.

Someone once gave me striking advice: say yes to things that can be done by no one else.

When I carefully consider those things that are most important to me and stick to the things which I love, enjoy, and feel called to do, I find weighing out the other requests for my time much simpler. The balance, of course, always changes. Lopsidedness, I know well, equals too much stress. Nearing balance brings enjoyment.

There is no greater day than one filled with joy … and so, fresh from spring vacation, I know that balance is worth pursuing, relentlessly. For it is there, approaching a balance, that our days may truly shine.