Jeremiah's prophecy, fulfilled by Herod's brutal action in the second year of Jesus' life, still horribly true in devastation:

Screams of anguish come from Ramah,
Weeping unrestrained;
Rachel weeping for her children.
Uncomforted--
For they are dead.

(Matthew 2:18)

David's suffering and alienation still sings to the Only One who completely understands the sorrowful strains:

...the waters have come up to my neck.
I sink in the miry depths,
where there is no foothold.
I have come into the deep waters;
the floods engulf me.

Come near and rescue me...

(Psalm 69:1-2, 18)

How am I willing to allow suffering to change me?
What comfort am I willing to give up in order for strangers to be comforted?

When we learned of the historic snowstorm sweeping the Midwest, my husband and I reminisced two epic storms of our youth. One in the 60's that left sky scrapin' snow scapes for energetic pre-teens to tunnel villages and create fantasy igloos in the unmelting mounds while our parents--we lived about 50 miles apart--scratched their responsible heads about how to remove the stuff.

The other memorable storm left us snowed into our cottage in the late '70's, a few years into marriage. Friends came over early, and brought provisions to last thru the blizzard. As the party snacks staled and the snowplow arrived like a loose locomotive, it's brightwhite beacon dusting the dark off the crystal landscape, we stumbled outside. Rubbing our hands to keep them warm, we gazed at the 12 foot drift sailing across our driveway to the roof, the obstacle we were obligated to remove if we wanted to release the car from the garage before the spring thaw.

There are as many frozen adventures to recall as the forty seasons we endured Frosty's folly, but it was with minute melancholy that we humbly watched TV reports of an authentic Winter breathing his blast on our Hoosier homeland.

For ironic relief, I hung four pairs of well worn mittens on the mantle, reminders of glorious childlike glee when icy manna silently falls on predictable people.

All is privilege; Winter teaches us that.

"If you say it in music, you pray twice."
Emily Saliers, A Song to Sing, A Life to Live

There is only one thing on my wish list, and in the first week of December, within 24 hours of it's revelation, my ever-lovin' husband made it come true!
With the needle he provided, I can listen to all our LP's from the 60's to the early 80's. Christmas came early!!

listenin' to Lori Lieberman right now...

"When we are abandoned by the things we value, when we discover that no matter how much we have gathered we do not have enough, when we realize that even in the currency we value we are very poor, we are ready to start talking to God. Not before. Faith means betting our lives on the grace of God." - M. Craig Barnes

"Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled." - Jesus Christ ( Matthew 5:6, NIV)