don't miss it...

As i woke up this morning after a relatively sleepless weekend to a dreary sunday covered in muddy snow, the last thing i wanted to do was get out of my very warm, very large bed.

And then it started to rain.

If people weren't counting on me to be at church, i bet you ten bucks i wouldn't have gone. BUT people do count on me to be at church come sunday school hour, so i climbed out of bed and began to get myself ready. The whole time i was remembering how the same time one week ago i was thoroughly enchanted. i jotted down my experience during last week's painful discourse - sometimes i'm glad i sit alone come sermon-time. this is what i wrote:

when i walked out of my room this morning, i saw a beauty out the window that quite literally stopped me in my tracks. When i started to breathe normally again, i found my hand resting on my chest. The entire world was encrusted in crystal and serenaded by the early morning sun. a thick, pure white mist had covered the earth while it slept, and each ice-drenched twig was kissed by tiny violently vibrant red berries. Whereas normally i walk with purpose and watch my steps, this morning i slowed, head up, stopping to see translucent ice that almost reached out to touch me, admiring the cold, freezing fingers of icicles, larger than i had ever seen before. When i finally got to my car, i had to pause. my black honda civic was covered in precious and unique snowflakes of all different sizes. I took it all in, in total awe. I scrutinized the beauty of each snowflake until my feet reminded me just how cold it was by kindly going numb in the adorable peep-toe heels i was wearing while standing in the 8 inches of snow Ohio had received. (i'm such an incurable Texan, i swear we never learn -- mourning the loss of the cowboys today by the way...) I stepped inside Max, my little car, and continued to examine the snowflakes from the inside of my window as i waited for my car to heat up. i searched for two identical flakes, challenging the notion of their total uniqueness... i found an asterisk, a perfectly symmetrical daisy, and eight thousand other variations of six-sided figures. * [sorry, i had to check to make sure asterisks weren't eight-sided. I'm correct. moving on!]

I reluctantly brushed away the loose snow from my windshield with the wipers and waited for the rest to melt... i have an ice scraper, but i hate to use it (plus i'm just not very good at it - i look awkward and i drop the thing... remember what i said about Texans? ;D ) Well, i was late, and obviously not going to freeze my toes off trying to use my ice scraper, so i perilously departed like an idiot in my ice-encased vehicle; I never before noticed how exhilarating 20 mph could be in the ice. I got to church safely and stepped out of my car to see the morning sun shining through powdery snow gently sifting down off the rooftops and treetops of my whitened world -- it looked like someone had dumped buckets of infinitesimal specks of silver glitter into the atmosphere. i approached the church, breathless, and Ben the bachelor held the door for me. "Good morning, Ben!" i said, "Isn't it just beautiful?"

"Oh, yeah, i guess," he shivered, "kinda cold, though."

Father,

don't let me lose my wonder.