ENCOURAGED IN HEART

Here in Northern Virginia, we’ve been blasted with a blizzard…at least 18 inches of snow!

(Above, the Pac-Man path to out place!)

18 inches might as well be 18 feet cause this place shut down….and fast.  The storm started Friday night.  On Saturday, they closed school for Monday and Tuesday – so no more school for the guys until 2010.  They were so devastated (cha, right!), they built a snow fort and went sledding!

(The stuffed animal is a Husky named “Fluffy” – Jake’s class mascot sent home to hang with him!)

Well, that is AFTER we got them working…shoveling.  Or perhaps more accurately, causing the Finkster 23 more gray hairs with throwing their freshly tossed snow onto his recently cleared path.  Entertainment (at least for me!) was everywhere!

(Above: Does it look like Cal knows something going on that I don’t? PROBABLY!)

Few things look more delicious than my three cute men working…

While we did have a blast sledding,

my favorite memory of the day had nothing to do with our sled, but rather our shovelS.  We finished shoveling our place much quicker than expected because our next door neighbor, Brent, shoveled our place out with us.  Reminded me of what my Grandma Karl used to say, “the more hands, the lighter the work”. Grandma Karl used to also say, “she worked like a trojan” too (it means to work really hard) – that is, until my Pop told her what a common day use for the word “trojan” was.  Needless to say, Grandma never used that saying ever again.

Anyhoo, back to the snow…

After we were done with our place, Dave and I decided to shovel the elderly couples driveway at the opposite end of the block.  The wife uses a walker.  We regularly talk about how much we want Jake and Cal to be servants for God but sometimes the service “events” are still too old for them.  They see Mom and Dad serve at church and in the community and that counts for something, but  this would be an opportunity to not just tell the boys about service, but let them serve.

Dave told them what we were going to do, and why…so down the ice rink, (or street, whatever you prefer to call it!), we headed.

Know what?

Brent joined.

Then Collin, Jenn and their son Patrick did too.

Then J.J walked down.

Then Joan and her daughter came out (with a plate of cookies to keep the team fueled!) and started shoveling.

I asked the Jake and Cal what this was called – they called out, “team work!”  There’s no way I could have taught them a lesson like this…it was just awesome!

I’m telling ya what, to live in this kind of a neighborhood…heck, I’m just plain misty-eyed typing.  To see so many people shovel, just blessed my heart.  They didn’t really know this couple, they just did it because that’s the kind of amazing people we’re surrounded with…and we’re so blessed!

It was just one of those moments…that I’ll cherish.  I pray this memory will be burned into both our boys hearts and memory banks too.

I’m learning that sharing my faith with others has a lot more to do with the life I live than the fancy religious talk.  The fancy religious talk doesn’t get them out of their driveway and to the grocery store.  But someday, if the shoveled path led to a conversation…I’m so there!

St. Francis said it best, “Preach the Gospel at all times and, if necessary, use words.”  I wonder if St. Francis came up with that wisdom while shoveling snow?