My birthday gift from God

Today is my birthday. As a quasi-middle-aged person, my birthdays tend to sort of come and go without too much fanfare. And I am okay with that. Sometimes I would rather not spend too much time calculating just how old I am now. (And for all you folks who have yet to reach your 40th birthday, you won’t understand the common question to oneself, “How old am I again?” before you begin to subtract your birth year from today’s date, because you tend to forget if you are 46 or 47, but I digress…) Yesterday morning I glanced out the window and saw an amazing sight. It was snowing in my backyard!

Now, for many of you this will seem most unconsequential. I can hear you now. “What’s the big deal? It snows at my house all the time.” Yes, that may be true, but in my city, just 25 miles north of downtown Los Angeles, it hardly ever snows!! EVER! In fact, the news reported that it has not snowed in this area since 1988. So, while others in my neighborhood complained about the cold and the ice (I know, who would do that?), I for one was surprised and grateful for such a wonderful little gift from God. And since it was my birthday today, I decided that the impromptu Snow Day, was his special treat just for me!

I, of course immediately rushed outside like a mad woman with both the digital camera and my iPhone, nearly tripping over the cat on my way out. He mis-took my wild enthusiasm and hid under the sofa. Standing on the front porch I filmed the falling snow, not realizing until my neighbors walked by that I was still in my pajamas with “bed hair” and no make-up. That was unfortunate. They however, pretended not to notice and understanding my zeal, made some nice comments about me taking pictures of the snow. Dressed in their parkas, they decided to take a walk in the unique weather, while other neighbors collected snow to throw at one another. By the afternoon it was still snowing and I was amused to see all my Facebook friends who live in the valley, all posting pictures! The event was such a novelty that our valley made the news on several channels. By the evening, they reported that we had received three inches of snow!

The Bible says that every good and perfect gift comes from God. Snow for my birthday. This is certainly one gift that I will always cherish and one birthday that I will always remember.

On the journey toward Home,

Tagged as: birthday, faith, gift, God, Los Angeles, snow, surprise