In Everything Gives Thanks--Let it snow!

Today's forecast calls for snow. Immediately my heart sinks, as I think about driving over the hills to my afterschool clubs. It would be so easy to succumb to fear, disobeying the command to "Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God." (Phil. 4:6) Instead of complaining, I am determined to give thanks--even for the snow. I know that my children are eagerly anticipating snow, with thoughts of hot chocolate and watching Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. They look forward to sledding, snowboarding, and snowmen. When did I become such a grown-up that I lost that joyful anticipation of the first snowfall? When did "snowflakes that stay on my nose and eyelashes" stop being "a few of my favorite things"? When was the last time I stood outside with my mouth open wide catching snowflakes on my tongue?
"God thunders marvelously with His voice; He does great things which we cannot comprehend. For He says to the snow, 'Be on the earth'; likewise to the gentle rain and the heavy rain of His strength...By the breath of God ice is given, and the broad waters are frozen. Also with moisture He saturates the thick clouds; He scatters His bright clouds. And they swirl about, being turned by His guidance, that they may do whatever He commands them on the face of the earth. He causes it to come, whether for correction, or for His land, or for mercy." (Job 37:5-6, 10-13) Snow is a picture of correction--"Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow." (Psalm 51:7) It is a gift for the land--"For as the rain comes down, and the snow from heaven, and do not return there, but water the earth, and make it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall my word be that goes forth from my mouth; it shall not return to me void, but it shall accomplish what I please, and it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it." (Isaiah 55:10-11) And it is a reminder of God's mercy--"'Come now, and let us reason together,' says the Lord. 'Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall be as wool.'" (Isaiah 1:18)
When and if it snows, I have decided to give thanks. Whether or not I have "no place to go, let it snow, let it snow, let it snow."