“So be truly glad! There is wonderful joy ahead, even though the going is rough for a while down here.” 1 Peter 1:6

As I write this, the snow is deep outside and I am reminded of growing up on a farm. My dad would use a tractor with a snow bucket to create huge piles of snow as he kept our driveway clear and made paths to the barns and sheds. The snow piles were great places to play, especially when I was supposed to be doing chores. One of my favorite things to do was take a shovel and dig/scrape/carve at the pile of snow until I had the world’s best snow fort. What was initially a huge mound of snow turned into a masterful creation of walls and tunnels. I always thought of my project as looking at the big pile of snow and removing what wasn’t important, until I was left with the important stuff. Maybe I should have become a sculptor; I’ve heard it said that they can see their art in a piece of marble and all they have to do is remove the rock that isn’t a part of their vision.

Yesterday, my mother was buried. She lived to a ripe old age of ninety-three and it was a typical complicated life. There was the large family she grew up in. There were successes and failures, celebrations and disappointments. She met my father at her sister’s wedding and moved to a new state. She mourned a son, lost as a baby, and celebrated the lives of four healthy kids. There were wonderful meals and worries about bills. It was the complicated life we all have. But at her funeral yesterday, the big, complicated life was reduced to the important stuff. The resurrection of Jesus and His promise to us shoveled away all the complications of my mother’s life and we celebrated the important stuff that remained. We were assured she had moved on to the reward we are all promised.

In the complicated lives we all lead, may we all find the ability to see through the clutter and find what’s truly important.

Prayer: Lord, give us the peace that comes when we know what it really important. Help us to look through all the complications in our lives to see the promise You have given to us. Amen.