(By Thor Knutstad)
As I write today’s weekly blog, I am reading the comments of many disappointed people. Adults wanted a day off at home. Kids wanted a snow day from school. Many businesses and schools were closed. People throughout our region had braced for “Winter Storm Juno” – which was ‘supposed to’ (and let me emphasize SUPPOSED TO) dump a foot or two of snow in blizzard-like fashion over the entire North Eastern United States and here in the Greater Philadelphia Region. It did not. It was a bust. In the words of teens these days, “Fail.” Actually, “Epic Fail” seems more appropriate. In the throes of expectation and disappointment, here are a few simple observations that I have made today:
Don’t judge what you and others don’t know.
People really do want reasons to rest and be at home.
Don’t judge what you don’t know. The meteorologists got it wrong about the snowstorm. So what? 99.9% of the time they actually get it very right. Maybe the fear and hype of HOW PEOPLE RESPOND to snow shows that they really do want the weatherman to be correct. This was a storm that had a lot of room for meteorological error. And maybe we should be grateful that it isn’t worse. Lives are actually saved without recognizing it. We judge and we blame for what we do not really understand or fully comprehend. This is wrong and ought not to be. But it’s more than wrong judgment and disappointed expectations. Many crave something that is treasured, yet not really utilized or lived out.
People want real reasons to rest and stay home. Rest is something very foreign to our busy, pleasure idolatrous culture. We cannot sit still and just talk, laugh, read or rest. We leave NO MARGIN for ponder, thought or imagination. Our minds are distracted by an endless array of media, sights, sounds, internet, information, to do lists, social media (yes, Facebook), tablets, movies, games, apps and smart-phones that ALL subtly deceive us into thinking we are connected to others. These tools aren’t evils, and are useful secondary things, until they are abused and distract us from primary things. When they drive our minds and bodies away from real rest, we crave someone or something to make us rest. We want something to be done for us because we sinfully (yes, I said that) live in modes of extreme exhaustion and the busyness of “marginlessness” (my new word). A big snowstorm puts loved ones together with lots of food and laughter and TIME and closes the door on outside activities – ENDLESS ACTIVITIES of BUSYNESS. The disappointment isn’t just a sign of wrong expectations. It’s an indicator of the crave of rest. And remember people – it’s not even February. There’s still time for snow. Winter isn’t over. But make time for the margin of real rest.
