Archives for December 2007

Old man winter showed up in force over the past few days across our portion of the Heartland in the form of an ice storm. In our community, we actually got off easy — we didn’t lose power. Yes, it did go off momentarily on Sunday, and at one point on Monday the lights dimmed. Thank goodness that was the extent of it. Those moments were enough to strike fear in my heart, though, as I thought of the prospect of no heat. When I woke up Monday morning, the first thing I thought was “we still have power — thank You, Lord!”

This kind of weather certainly plays havoc with our lives. Cancellations abound. All of our church services on Sunday were canceled — which means our choir didn’t get to do the cantata we had been working on for the past several weeks (it has been rescheduled for this Sunday, though). I had also spent time practicing for a trio number for Sunday morning. That one may have to wait for next Christmas. Classes on Monday were canceled at the college so that messed things up for Don. He was counting on getting in some more lecture time before finals started today. And to top things off, a fun Christmas outing I had planned with a friend had to be put on hold as well.

These cancellations were really relatively minor. At least our electricity wasn’t “canceled” by mother nature. Nor did the storm come on Christmas and cancel everyone’s travel plans (knock on wood!). The first weekend in December last year, however, we had a huge snowfall that canceled a much-anticipated family weekend gathering and outing to see Silver Dollar City decked out for the holidays. We were one disappointed lot over that.

Life can hand us even harder “cancellations” than these, though. Do you happen to be dealing with a cancellation in your life right now? Maybe your job was “canceled” due to a lay-off or downsizing, or maybe your marriage was canceled through divorce. You might be going through the break-up of a relationship or even tragically faced with the end of a relationship because of a death. Maybe you’ve had to cancel your plans or put your dreams on hold to care for a loved one. You might even have had to cancel plans to go home for Christmas for some reason.

When our lives and times don’t go as we planned, it helps to remember that God is in charge and that He is able to work things out for our good. So if you are faced with some sort of cancellation in your life, I encourage you to look to God and say, “But I trust in you, O Lord; I say, ‘You are my God.’ My times are in your hands…” Psalm 31:14-15a NIV