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Record snowfall hits Dallas area!!
That’s what the paper says this morning.
That is where I am today. The Dallas area.
Actually I am in Glen Rose, south of Fort Worth, at the Glen Lake Retreat Center, where last night’s lecture was cancelled, because the weather told people, “Stay off the roads. Stay in your homes. Drink a hot toddy–or two–and watch a movie that makes you want to cuddle (with someone you know, or someone you wish you knew, your choice).”
A few nights ago at St. Peter’s in Fallbrook, CA, I lectured to a group that braved a deluge. The kind of rain that makes you talk about Noah. I told the group that if I wanted this kind of weather I would have stayed home, in Seattle. I talked with the group about the fact that we have a tendency (and irascible hope) to believe that life is in someplace other than the place we are in right now. So we are perpetually waiting for life to start. Or for a life different from the one we have right now. You know. . .if only. . .
Or, when it quits raining or snowing or when events aren’t canceled. . .
As a wine lover, I talked about the how easy it is to hold on to that great bottle of wine, just waiting for the “right” event. And how we live our whole life with all of our great wines still “waiting” in the cellar.
Yesterday I received this note from Bridgid Murray at St. Peter’s: “One of the people who attended your talk the other night popped into my office this morning. She was still buzzing. Then she told me that her husband went to the wine ‘cellar’ and pulled out a bottle of wine from Sicily that they had been saving for years. . .she said it tasted sooooo good. . .”
Amen. That’s the spirit. It’s time to visit our “cellars.”
This morning I slept in and woke to a winter panorama. And stopped in at La Rosita for the world’s best breakfast burritos. (Seriously. These are ‘make you glad to be alive’ good.) The owner told me that she had been up since 5:30, taking pictures, because the snow is so beautiful.
I find it easy to focus on what I’m missing, or have missed. . .and stop the flow of gratitude for the surprising ordinary gifts smack dab in the middle of the days or events I did not plan.
If you are in Texas. . .I’ll see you Sunday at Aledo United Methodist Church, or at First United Methodist in Fort Worth.
Life is what happens when we are making other plans. John Lennon
One Comment
>Yes, wise words here. Big yes to this one It's always us who close off, shutter our eyes, and then ask where the wonder and joy went.