7 Takes on Snow and Stuff

Well, here it is, Friday already. Friday with 41 inches of snow outside my window. So that’s pretty epic. Let’s see, are there any takes?

One

I remembered- too late for my exposition on why children (especially babies) are terrible oppressors, that one of my own children noticed this important fact a while ago. What she said was prescient and I will record it here for your benefit:

Marigold (not her real name): Aren’t babies really prideful? Like cats. ‘Cause cats are really prideful.

Me: Yes.

Two

The point of parenting–and the church actually–is to turn children from oppressors into nicer people, which can be accomplished by teaching them all about Jesus and the Bible. Sometimes children notice wonderful things when they are reading the Bible, like a child on Sunday who enjoyed one of those aha moments, where all of the things that didn’t really make sense before fall happily into place. Lying back on his socially distanced rug, arms in the air for help in concentration as the last words of the reading about Zechariah hearing from the Angel of the Lord fell away, he then sat up and in astonishment said, “God muted his zoom!”

Amen, as they say, Come Lord Jesus. It’s so nice when God speaks to us in the language we can best understand.

Three

As I said, we got 41 inches of snow yesterday, with more snow promised for Sunday, which means that my kitchen floor is replete with soggy hats and mittens and snow pants and snow boots and everything that every child climbed out of and flung down as they came in from shoveling and shoveling and shoveling. Strangely, all the men of the family had to “study” and “write” and stuff like that. So all the girls shoveled for a lot of the day and then finally, at dusk, had enough and so the boys pulled themselves together and took a turn. Here is me resting in the snow before continuing my long journey up a hill.

Four

It’s getting to be time to start the liturgical viewing of the Christmas movies that we watch every single year. Our favorite is the Hog Father which is the best Christmas movie, hands down, of every age, with a close second of A Christmas Story. The worst Christmas Movie, of course, is Love Actually, which is just awful. But I do wish someone would make a movie called Church Actually. I’m thinking of doing up the script myself, except that I suppose it would mean watching Love Actually again, which, as I said, is such a terrible movie that the exercise would probably kill me. Still, I don’t have anything else to do so maybe I’ll give it a try.

Five

I sort of enjoyed this video (lots of not very appropriate images and also topics I generally try to avoid–don’t watch it with kids around, or if you will be shocked or anything like that.) The first thing I want to say is that I’m so happy it’s finally winter and I can actually go out and lie down in the snow. It’s the first time I’ve been able to really cool down all year–so that’s lovely. And second, as with all things, it seems to me both bad and good that women would be, as it were, “more open” about this sort of thing. Commiserating with other people who are also suffering or whatever is a really nice thing to do. On the other hand, something is lost when you commit yourself to “say everything.” Lore, for example, is cast by the wayside. Also, the idea that maybe I and my suffering or whatever am not the most important question in the whole entire world. As each generation commits itself to saying more and more, we embrace an ever greater Decadence of Me and Who I Am which I think is too bad.

Six

As I was corresponding back and forth with Dorothy for the thing we did yesterday, I came across some stuff I said about marriage a long time ago. I said this:

Jesus gave himself up even unto death for the sake of his bride, the church, and out of obedient love for his Father. Christian marriage is therefore necessarily self-giving. It is you dying to yourself for the good of the other person in a daily ongoing way over many many years. It’s not based in the feelings you have for the other person, and your own needs and desires, but rather in the difficult moment by moment decisions of the will that require you to put the other person in front of yourself.

…and then came across The Voice That Breathes O’re Eden (because I’m on a Wodehouse binge) which has the wonderful line, “be present awful Father.” Seriously, read the whole thing.

Seven

Well, all the children are coming up here one by one to bother me so I guess I had better move along with the day. Go check out more takes! I suppose, if you really need me for some reason, you’ll be able to find me lying in the snow trying to cool off.