"Nature is the embodied Spirit of My Thoughts of beauty for the world. Sense My presence in the snow, My message in its beauty and perfume.

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As I sit here looking at this winter wonderland I am reminded of my youth. Back home in Spokane Washington every winter brought plenty of snow and we would have a blast sledding on the Big Hill down the street in a neighbors back yard. Today as I took Michael, Brian James and a neighbor friend out for a day of sledding and building an eight foot snow creature, my mind wandered back to those days of making jumps and truly enjoying what God had provided.

You see it is this moment that made me reflect on yesterday when I was frustrated. The lines of people at the store, the lack of resources that this weather has caused, overall just not so fun to be around. I was thinking about the different problems we are facing, when God found a way to open my eyes and refocus them on Him.

Last night I went downtown to pick up Kevin and his girlfriend. As I pulled up under the Morrison bridge I found myself at the campsite; 4 or 5 tents, an old barrel with a fire burning, and realized that my pity party that day was out of sink with what the Lord was showing me these past two weeks. The people I met last night were as humble as any I have met in the four years of doing Nightstrike, the homeless outreach I have been involved with. They seemed content and were enjoying the snow even though they had to sleep outside in it. Right then the Lord reconnected my heart to my head and I was able to see through my eyes instead of just with them.

When we were children we saw through our eyes not just with them. We saw the snow as a wonderful time of fun, not the disruption that perceive it to be as adults. We saw the beauty and smelled fresh winter, we didn't see it as an obstacle that keeps us in long lines or prevents us from going to the store. Maybe through this "storm" God is trying to tell us something. The last time Portland had snow like this was forty years ago; in Spokane it was so deep that my brother got lost in the back yard (I don't know who would have put him there). None the less, we had fun just enjoying the amazing amount of snow.

Perhaps this is God's gift to us, in a time of financial problems around the globe, maybe God is trying to give us something we can't buy but something to just enjoy. Just as each one of us is different with our own problems and struggles, so is each one of the snow flakes that have captured our attention over the past couple of weeks and still more to come.

I wonder if children in my old neighbor hood are still sledding on the Big Hill? I hope so, and I pray that we may all see the events of this winter as a Gift, seeing through our eyes not just with them.

Merry Christmas to all and may you find your Big Hill and enjoy this season.

Brian