The winter is coming to a close. It’s the first day of March, and boots gave way to sandals today. It’s been unseasonably warm in North Carolina and the warmth is slowly melting away any hopes I have had of a good long snow this winter.

I always love a good snow. It white washes the world a bit and helps things come to a halt around here. As a teacher, well, I so look forward to having an unexpected day or two off and to be honest, I watch weather reports a lot more in the winter months than at any other time of the year! Snow covered trees, quiet, and a day off, well, it’s been a wish of mine all winter long. So on this balmy March day, well, I was realizing that hopes of a good snow were probably not going to happen this season.

But as I drove by one of my favorite spots, there were fields of white, not from snow, but from the blooming whites of the Bradford Pear trees that peeked through the woods the whole way home. Wild windy whites blowing in the Spring wind on this balmy day were a sight to be seen for sure.

As I stopped and took in the sights, I smiled as I realized a little simple truth. Sometimes, when we don’t get what we wish for, well, there’s something just as beautiful around the corner. Nope, I didn’t get my cold winter snow and day off this winter. But boy, oh boy, did I get beauty—Beauty in the wonder of Spring popping up all over the place. The whites have arrived and will soon give way to the purple of the red bud trees and wisteria, and the yellows of the forsythia will give way to green, glorious green that will last through the summer months. No, I didn’t get my world covered in white, white snow that is, but to look over the hills and see the wondrous white on this March day, well, it gave me pause, and made me smile and feel refreshed by so much more than the warm gust of wind that rustled the new growth on the trees.

Every season has its beauty. Sometimes we think it’s supposed to look a certain way and we anticipate and expect certain scenarios. And when things don’t quite look like what we had hoped for, well, we can feel disappointed, even discouraged. Or we can see folks who get lots of what we hoped for and it makes it harder to accept the void. (For example, the folks in the midwest are getting a LOT of snow this winter and I’m trying not to be jealous, lol!) But the more seasons I’ve had in my life, the more I’m learning to look for the surprises–to look for the joys, the beauty, the unexpected blessings that were just not on our radar. Life is full of challenges, but it is also oh-so-full of beauty to behold. Sometimes when we let go of the lens of seeing things through our own expectations, well, there’s a whole new brand of beauty waiting for us to breathe in.

I don’t know what ‘season’ you’re in, or what challenges you’re facing. But here’s hoping, hoping, hoping, that if you don’t get what you’ve wished and hoped and prayed for, well, here’s hoping that there’s a beautiful exchange. Here’s hoping that there’s a beautiful exchange and that you can have the eyes to see it, the heart to feel it, and the pause to breathe it in.

My new four-legged friends and I did just that today.

It wasn’t the snow I had hoped for, but in these North Carolina foothills, in this season that I’m in, well, it was a beautiful field of white, like a Southern snow, and maybe it was exactly what I needed.

Sometimes seasons of our lives look so much different than we plan, and we can lose heart. God’s word encourages us to put our trust in His plans for us rather than our own. Sheesh- I’ve had a lot of plans that have so fallen through in my life, but, yes, there have been so many beautiful exchanges for what I thought was best now replaced by what indeed is a blessing. I don’t try to figure things out as much — and am learning to accept and hope at the same time. It’s a place of peace for sure. So here’s to hoping for snow, but oh so enjoying the ‘southern snows’ in our lives that bring a breath of fresh air and beauty just when we need it.

Blessings~

Heather

Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart.

Psalm 37:4