Weathering the Storm

It is 4:30 a.m. and my cell phone goes off. I left it on vibrate before I went to bed, but the buzz, buzz, buzz still wakes me from sleep. I had kind of been expecting the call anyway given that the overnight weather forecast called for 4 to 8 inches of snow. In an area where even the threat of snow that might not even come leads to cancelled schools and a general air of panic, a "snow-maggedon" event is downright enough to bring the entire area to its knees for an extended period. The phone call was a robo-call from the folks at my lab declaring that due to inclement weather conditions, work would be closed today and that only those folks explicitly called in would be allowed to entire the site. After I got done checking the message and deleting it, I made my way in the dark of the bedroom over to the french doors to look outside at the mayhem. It sure seems that the forecasters got this one right. There is even more snow in the forecast for the next few days that will add even more of a burden to our existing woes.

In anticipation of this storm, I managed to ensure that my cupboards were well stocked and I brought some extra stuff home from work so that at least I wouldn't let work stuff pile too high. However, on Friday I had plans with my daughter that might have to be cancelled because I won't be able to get to where she is. That causes me frustration and worry. It leads me to feel small and powerless. I also have a long driveway that is covered in a good bit of snow, and due to a pinched nerve in my shoulder, I am presently little more than a one-armed man. As my town has not invested significantly in the way of snow-removal equipment, they only manage to plow the main roads during snow storms. They never even attempt to do anything about the secondary/neighborhood roads. They just rely on the temperature rising up out of the 30s at some point to do their work for them. However, sometimes that tenth of a mile from house to plowed highway remains unpassable for days.

Maybe this is all an opportunity for me put into practice some of the things that I have been reading about in my devotional on worry. Maybe because it is now 5:04 a.m., it is just time for me to go back to bed and let my cares melt away for a while longer. Why worry about things now that I can put off worrying about until later?