Well, it finally happened, we got our snow!!! For weeks it's been forecast and for weeks we haven't gotten any. There's been snow in other parts of the country, heck even other parts of the city, but my little corner of Belfast was snow-free until today. I love being inside when it's snowing far more than I love being outside in the snow but for some reason every time those sweet white flakes come down I become a child again and run out the door, carefree, ready to embrace the cold like an old friend.
The wait for the first snow of the year is a funny time. It usually hits around late January to early February but as I mentioned, living in the city, in the lowlands, and near the water, we get it a little later than everyone else. I've been seeing my friends. who live out in the country or up in the hills posting on their Instagram stories for the past few weeks of their snowy exploits and you begin to feel like you're missing out. Even if it is a trivial little thing like waiting longer for snow it really got me thinking about anticipation and seasons of waiting.
Social media is in some ways such a positive thing but at the same time is such a leader for toxic thoughts and comparison. Seeing other people reach goals that you are nowhere near to achieving can be encouraging and damaging. We're all on different paths and just because all around us we see people younger than us achieving these great things it doesn't mean that we are behind, it doesn't mean that we're failing. We don't need to look back and analyse all the mistakes we may have made that may have led us to this moment of not being where we wanted to be because the truth is you are right where you're supposed to be at this moment in time.
It's frustrating, especially now that COVID and lockdowns are preventing us from really getting out there and smashing those goals, we've maybe had to hit pause on that exciting venture but that doesn't mean that we just stop. We can continue to look forward to the future with anticipation that better things are to come one day you will get your snow and you will reach those goals and if it happens later than you thought it's not a reflection on you, you're just on a different path than you maybe thought. In Isaiah 55:8-9 it says:
"For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord For as the heavens are higher than the earth,so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts."
We can trust that God has us on the right path and that in the end if we continue to trust in his plan for our lives, we will prevail.
This was really a spur of the moment post with spur of the moment photos because sometimes no matter how hard we plan for things sometimes ideas just come and it just feels right to post them then and there so hopefully everything I said here makes sense a little bit.
Has it snowed yet where you are and do you get as excited about snow as I clearly do? And are you more of an inside when it snows or outside when it snows kind of person?