Gift of Peace

BEHIND THE ART

I woke up to that peculiar stillness in the morning air and the upward cast of light on the bedroom window blinds. It had evidently snowed all night. There were five or six inches. Not enough to even mention to my friends in Maine, but this is Southeastern Virginia and many secondary roads were impassable. No one came to work at our shop for two days.

Snow. Hardly the event that people with schedules, industrious people, welcome with much enthusiasm. Of course, our true enthusiasts, little kids, just love it.

It was really beautiful, exhilarating, a complete transformation. I made this “peace flakes” design soon afterwards because it seemed to me that peace itself comes into our lives rather like the snow: quiet, gradual, initially unnoticed.

As my sons Alex and Josh and I had our long, lazy, snow-bound breakfast, I found myself thinking ‘Actually, this is good. This is just what we needed’ – the timely cure, perhaps, for some condition that had been creeping up on us, a vague condition whose symptoms had been a sense of tedium and weariness with the routines of work and school, an absence – I realized – of just this: pure delight, spontaneous, unbidden.

Basically, I know it’s not just snow at work here, it’s God (again). He’s versatile, knows our needs, enjoys surprises.