“Let all who seek you rejoice and be glad in you.  Let those who love your salvation say evermore, ‘God is great!'” ~Psalm 70:4

When I was growing up, the Superintendent of Wadsworth City Schools was Mr. Parsons.  He’s a nice man, though he had one significant flaw as far as kids were concerned—we hardly ever got snow days in Wadsworth.  During far too many winter weather events, all of the other surrounding school districts would not have school and Wadsworth would still be on.  Supposedly, Mr. Parsons would get up early and drive around town to make the call about school closure.  If he didn’t slip and slide on the roads, school was still happening.  We joked that he actually drove a tank and he even earned the nickname “Polar Bear Parsons.” 

Hopefully, we’ve all shoveled out by now and are back to navigating with ease around our town here in Colchester.  The snowy storm we had this week made me think about snow days past (too rare though they often were because of Polar Bear Parsons!)  It was wonderful when my father got the call that school was canceled.  Back in the 90s, he as a principal had to call specific teachers on the phone tree, who would then call other teachers and staff to get the word out about a snow day.  Word spreads much faster these days with social media and all of the electronic alerts families receive!  Maureen and I would often play outside in the snow, perfecting our snow angels or having snow ball fights, building snow tunnels if there was enough snow to get more elaborate.  Snow days were just the best.

In these pandemic days when we’ve had to go virtual with school, church, and all sorts of groups and events in our lives, I hope that traditional snow days aren’t a thing of the past.  In the words of the Psalmist, I hope that we can rejoice and be glad because God is great and this world that God created is great too.  Of course students and teachers are often set up to log in from home and continue on with classes.  Though sometimes we could all just use a break.  Some children are thriving in online learning environments, and some are struggling.  The same can be said of adults.  Just thinking this week about snow days and hoping that we can still experience moments of delight on a snowy day.  

Love,
Pastor Lauren

(This Week’s Thoughts 2.4.21)