The gift of unexpected time

Feels Like a Snow Day

Snow days! For school children, the mere mention of it inspires unfettered joy. Children get more excited about snow days than scheduled vacation days.  Even students who love school relish snow days, so it must not be the lure of getting out of school that causes such elation.  And if we are honest, many adults who don’t have to work on a snow day, are delighted to curl up with a cup of hot cocoa and a good book. 

 Why do you suppose that is? I think it is because snow days are unexpected gifts. We planned on something and then are plans are magically changed—and we don’t even mind it. If you think about it, a snow day is kind of like Sabbath in that everything comes to a screeching halt. Often we are unable to travel and there are no obligations to visit people as is customary for a regularly scheduled holiday. It is just a gloriously free day.

We don’t get too many snow days where I live, so they are a cause celeb! I extend my apologies to those of you who have suffered through too many snow days lately due to our unpredictable weather patterns.  Sometimes too much of a good thing can just be too much.

The point I am trying to make is that there is something special about the gift of unexpected time. You may have experienced this at your work place when a meeting is suddenly cancelled and no one seems to complain. (People suppress big grins and stifle sighs of relief so that the boss doesn’t think they are just a bit too happy about it.) And even though we all ultimately fill up the free time with snowball fights and sledding on snow days, or catch up on work when a block of time opens up, the gift of time is no less precious.

Wouldn’t it be great if we could treat each new day as the precious gift that it is? What if we didn’t take the days for granted---if we learned to see the joy even amidst our normal schedules?  Snow days will always be special. I believe each day has a specialness all its own.

March forth into the gift of future days!