Snow Day Joy

Remember having snow days when school was cancelled as a kid? No online classes back then! If school was cancelled, we got a pure day of freedom and joy amid the quietness of deep snow.

How many of us have snow days in our lives today? With our connected lives, it is hard sometimes to truly get away and have a day of freedom and no obligations.

Exodus 20:10 ~ But the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. Do not do any work on it—not you, your sons or daughters, your male or female servants, your animals, or the immigrant who is living with you.

God wanted us to have weekly "time-outs," and called it the Sabbath Day. The idea was so important to God that it made it into the Ten Commandments. Sometimes we think this is an obligation and duty for worshiping God, but it is also a gift from God for us to disconnect and relax once a week to keep our bodies and minds healthy and strong. Can we make Sabbath days a time of joy and restoration?

What do people gain from all the hard work

    that they work so hard at under the sun?

A generation goes, and a generation comes,

    but the earth remains as it always has. - Ecclesiastes 1:3-4

There’s nothing better for human beings than to eat, drink, and experience pleasure in their hard work. I also saw that this is from God’s hand—  Who can eat and find enjoyment otherwise?—  because God gives wisdom, knowledge, and joy to those who please God. - Ecclesiastes 2:24-26

The writer of Ecclesiastes also considered the meaning of life and how we spend our time. This write encouraged readers to eat, drink, and be merry, since we don't know what life has in store for us. Our lives will end one day, whether we are holy and good or evil and mean, but God's creation is good and we can enjoy what God gives us each day.

How do we plan our days and our weeks? Do we enjoy the creation God gives us? Do we set aside time to renew our minds and bodies? Let's be encouraged by the idea of "snow days" and see if we can't fit some into our lives, regardless of the wind and weather! Amen.

You're Invited: Join us in September 2026 for a trip off-the-grid to Holden Village in the Cascade Mountains of Washington State. We will fly to Seattle, then take buses and a 3-hour boat ride up an alpine lake to reach a retreat center in an old mining camp that is totally unconnected. No cell phones. No WiFi. One week of relaxation and contemplation in God's creation of mountains and forests and streams. This is a great way to build in the joy of a snow week!

Pastor Anna-Lisa Hunter

December 2, 2025