The Blessing of Snow

I wouldn't ordinarily be jubilant about snow. Although I love to tuck in on a project and 'wribernate' in the winter, I am not a big fan of winter chores. I do them, but it's cold and if you've been following along, this year I'm counting the ice breaking. Last night was a different deal, though. Before I went out to do evening chores I could see the raindrops were actually freezing to tree branches. I literally watched the term "freezing rain" develop before my very eyes. It was landing as water, where it landed, but then it would freeze. The droplets on the limbs were glistening and beautiful, but I knew what that meant on the ground. I got ready, went out, and could feel the moisture on the ground hardening beneath my feet, as the temperature had dropped. It was such a thin layer it didn't crack, it was just hardening as slippery slush. I finished up and came in to warm up and celebrate Rosh Chodesh. New moon, new month, and the sap changes direction in the next few weeks, meaning this is the month winter dormancy is supposed to be ending.
The past year was not easy here at the homestead in a few ways, and one of those has been the amazingly poor balance I've had and the number of falls that I've "suffered." I use quotes around, suffer, because that seems a bit dramatic, but two falls did result in broken bones, and the other ones, although nothing was severely injured, were still unnerving. Having walked very carefully doing chores, I went to bed in an unusual frame of mind for me. I went to bed praying about being afraid.
I'm not by nature a worrier, and as a believer in G-d, I really believe worry is wrong, so I don't entertain it as a rule. There were a number of people on my mind and needing prayer, so I said my simple, "I'm sorry for being afraid, I don't want to worry, and I trust You, Father. Now, on to people who have real problems" . . . and it was that simple that my mind moved on to the needs of others.
This morning when awoke to stoke the fire, I looked out and there was a gentle blanket of snow on everything. It wasn't much snowfall, probably not even two inches, but it provided wonderful traction over the frozen rain of yesterday, and insulated the water tubs so it took little effort to crack ice this morning. The only thing that was in the least bit inconvenient to deal with because of ice were a few latches. My walking stick worked just fine on that project! As a matter of fact, again I realized the value of the snow, in that I had enough traction to really put some effort into knocking ice off gate latches and chicken house doors.
YHWH knew what was needed and I am so grateful. I truly pray the other folks that I prayed for have also received for their circumstances, the needed blessed covering . . .