My apologies to Robert Frost but I too stopped by some woods on a snowy evening. My three hundred horses must have thought it queer to stop without a red light or red sign near. But there was a family of deer moving slowly through the sub freezing evening air. Small puffs of steam came from their nostrils as they made new trails through the snow. My presence seemed not to disturb them as they reached up to nibble on hanging branches. They would have made a perfect picture postcard advertising the beauties of New England. It’s winter in all its fullness; grey skies, icicles hanging from eaves, crunching sounds underfoot, flocks of robins searching for last summer’s sumacs so they can gobble down the crimson berries, darkness at 4:30 P.M. It’s a grand place.
Often I have wondered about Moses writing the Book of Job and making references to ice and snow in God’s soliloquy to Job. See 37:10 and 38:22. Since Moses grew up in Egypt and was a shepherd in the Middle East, I wondered where he saw ice and snow. Perhaps he climbed a mountain.
There is loveliness to each season. I’m glad the earth is tilted on its axis. Without that we would have the continually same sunrises and sunsets. We would have the same weather day in and year out. Earth is a good place to live. We need to keep it safe from us. As God made Adam steward of Eden, each of us has been given the sacred responsibility of stewardship. With that thought in mind I moved my three hundred horses toward a town for I too, just like you, have many promises to keep.
Written by Roger Bothwell on Jauary 7, 2010
Spring of Life Ministry, PO Box 124, St. Helena, CA 94574
Rogerbothwell.org