When we homeschooled I had the privilege of arranging my outings in the winter around bad weather. I absolutely love snow storms but I’m really not comfortable driving in snow and slush.

Now that I work part-time I can usually work around the storms but two winters ago I got stuck out and had to make my way home in rush hour traffic at the beginning of a nor’easter.

I was apprehensive but it was an opportunity to pray moment-by-moment and practice staying in peace before the Lord.

And it was so BEAUTIFUL! It was worth it!

I have no idea why but I was thinking about my grandparents and their dairy farm. The barn was quite a distance from the house. Since I’m always thinking about disaster preparedness and rehearsing scenarios in my head I thought, “How in the world did Granddaddy manage to make it to the barn and back? Did he attach a plow to the tractor and position it outside the back door? Did he just sleep in the barn with the cows? Did Grandma join him or stay at the house so she could keep the wood stove going?”

So I called my mother and posed these questions to her (hands-free driving, of course!).

“No, Granddaddy didn’t sleep in the barn with the cows, and he didn’t attach a plow to the tractor, he shoveled to the barn and back!”

Every time?! Every time.

No matter how deep the snow?! No matter how deep the snow.

“Because the cows had to be milked, twice a day, no matter what.”

I was shocked! The enormity of that task alone caused me to gasp. I’m not a good judge of distance but we’re talking a good 100 yards or more from the house to the barn! He then had to milk the cows! And possibly shovel back!!

But what she told me next totally floored me:

“I remember going out and helping Daddy shovel all the way out the lane to the road. The milk truck HAD to come collect the milk! So we shoveled from the house out through the “driveway” parking area to the lane, then all the way out the lane to the road, then come back past the “driveway” area and shovel to the barn so the milk truck could get the milk.”

Dear reader, just from the parking area by the house to the road HAS to be at least a quarter of a mile, THEN a hundred yards to the barn! And the lane had a big dip in it so they had to shovel UPHILL for part of it. And we’re talking about shoveling a path wide enough to accommodate a big truck for hauling milk!

Mom couldn’t recall if they had to shovel the barnyard area widely enough for the truck to turn around but even if they didn’t, that was an ENORMOUS task! And she was a child!

She said that anyone who was at the house pitched in to help, but she remembers at least one occasion when she and her daddy did it themselves.

I simply couldn’t believe it.

Mother, did you complain?! Listen to this…

“Oh my no! It had to be done. The milk had to go!”

Can you imagine? I can’t even imagine.

As part of my character-building training, God has been revealing to me my propensity to complain. After having this conversation with my mother I’ve been focusing on doing my various chores and fulfilling my responsibilities without complaining, such as cleaning cat litters, folding laundry, shoveling the driveway, walking the dog, cleaning up after dog and cat accidents (lots of opportunities to practice there!), cleaning up the kitchen again, etc.

I keep being reminded of the stock I come from, and I’m challenged to come up higher in my walk with Jesus.

I want to end this post with a few of my favorite winter photos, and please be sure to check out the links below the photos to other articles you may also like. I think I’ll go make some hot chocolate… ; )

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