Wonder

Last night, in the last few minutes of the evening, I padded through my quiet house checking that all the lights were off and the doors were locked. Just before I turned off the back porch light I happened to look outside. Quietly the snowflakes were drifting past the porch light and settling on the empty flower pots on the stoop.

I said, outloud, "Oh, it's snowing!" and a far distant memory griped me. It was December of 1965. My dad, my mom, my little brother and my almost-5-year-old self were taking the train from west Texas to Kansas City to visit family for Christmas. In the wee hours of the morning, a hand gently shook me and my mother's soft voice roused me from my sleep. "Oh, Terri, look! It's snowing!" I stood in the seat to watch the soft white flakes glistening in the soft light beaming from the train windows. I didn't remember the snow from my infancy in Germany so this was my first memorable encounter with the treasure. I sat back down and leaned against my mother and watched the white jewels fall for what seemed like hours. Soon the drone of the train wheels lulled me back to my dreams.

Even now, 43 years later, the vision of snow glinting in the lights at night fills me with wonder.

"Hast thou entered into the treasures of the snow? or hast thou seen the treasures of the hail,"

Job 38:22