A Year of Gratitude – January 7, 2024

My morning gratitude was chosen for me today, a gift from Mother Nature. Snow has touched everything on the farm and made it look like a snow globe. Even the duck house which is the centerpiece of our vegetable garden looks fresh and new.

Moments after waking up, I went to the window to see how much snow had fallen overnight. The entire landscape of the farm was covered in a blanket of fresh snow. It makes everything look so beautiful.

In that moment, I had a choice. As I stood there looking at the inches of snow, knowing that there is plenty more on the way, I could choose to focus on the beauty of the snow or the hard work of clearing away the snow. It’s the choice that has to be made every time more than a few inches of snow falls. I have had a lot of practice at making that choice over the years.

It is easy to focus on the drudgery of the chore of removing the snow. I took a deep breath and decided to marvel at the beauty of it instead. Yes, there will no doubt be hours of shoveling and snow throwing in my future today. I’d much rather be working on my knitting project or baking up a new recipe, but today is not the day for those tasks. Luckily, they’ll both wait for me to return to them tomorrow.

Today is about this glorious and beautiful snow that has finally arrived. I’ll enjoy the quiet it brings to a Sunday when people have the option to stay home and off the roads. It’s a special sort of stillness that I enjoy and it was made possible by today’s snow.

Isn’t it beautiful?

This post is part of our A Year of Gratitude Series. You can find the introduction, inspiration, and entire year’s gratitude’s posts here.