As I am writing this, Lutheran Schools Week has already come and gone for many students and teachers and we are deep into winter. The phrase “polar vortex” was recently announced during the local weather forecast, and my heart sunk a bit thinking about the brutal cold these past few winters have brought, and a bit of dread set in, knowing that the next few weeks may be more of the same as the past few years. However, one blessing the cold provides is a welcomed treat called snow day!
I don’t know any teacher whose day doesn’t become instantly brighter when they get that early morning notification: “No school due to inclement weather.” An internal or external “happy dance” instantly follows. Throughout the years I’ve developed a sort of an equation that must be complete for this treat to be given. It goes something like this: Perfect Snow Commencement Time + Perfect Snow Accumulation Amount = Snow Day. The snow can’t come too early, for that will give the plows too much time to make roads clear and passable. The perfect amount of accumulation has to be enough (between four to six inches or more) to ensure cancellation. Extra variables such as winds and drifting are a welcome addition to the equation. Although I’m sure these days can be a headache for parents (and maybe principals), teachers welcome this day off for rest and recharging.
Of course, there really is no perfect equation to make a snow day happen, just as we as teachers know there is no perfect equation to ensure teaching and learning is taking place in our classrooms. We can spend hours preparing an out-of-the-park lesson. We envision the lesson to be delivered perfectly. The students are excited, engaged and cooperative. Unfortunately, all too often we know that this vision quickly diminishes when reality sets in, when the daily trials of life enter the equation and sometimes the solution seems unreachable. Students come into our classrooms overloaded with unforeseen hardships. Whether it is trouble at home or relationships with peers, we don’t know what to expect or what will happen in our Lutheran school’s classrooms.
One thing that does remain constant is that we are all flawed, broken, and dead in sin. Isaiah 1:18 reads, “Come now, let us reason together, says the Lord. Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow.” Gratefully, like the snow that falls on a snow day, covering the dirt and dinginess of the roads and land, so too our sins have been washed clean through the blood of the Lamb, Jesus Christ. He completed the perfect equation through His sacrifice for us on the cross. His death on the cross has made us clean, new creatures by the work of the Holy Spirit and the faith planted in our hearts at Baptism. What a true blessing!
While celebrating Lutheran School’s Week, enjoy the warming fellowship and LIFE TOGETHER we have IN CHRIST, where we can share the wonderful message of God’s means of grace—His Holy Word and the Sacrament of Holy Communion—with our students, their families, and colleagues. No matter what flaws or difficulties we may be confronted with, or when the equation doesn’t seem complete, remember that we have His power to overcome it. He says, “Call upon me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you and you will honor Me” (Psalm 50:15).
Photo courtesy of Elisa Schulz Photography
