How very strange it is to be sitting here in the Sunporch on a Sunday morning. I should be arriving at St. Paul's church right now and getting myself mentally prepared to conduct worship. But, --- like all the rest of the churches in this local area, the weather and road conditions have made it unwise to venture out. This is the second service we have had to cancel this week and as a fellow pastor said on Facebook, I feel like we've given up church for Lent. I imagine the main highways are relatively clear, but side roads, subdivision streets, sidewalks, and parking lots are a totally slippery mess. And yet, there are people who will venture out and they will expect resturants and shopping centers to be open with no thought that employees of those places have to travel those same risky roads. We are, after all, the land and society of the entitled with no expectation of personal inconvience.

Happy 29th anniversary to our oldest daughter Julie, and hubby Jim. The weather wasn't much better on their wedding day. We were stationed at Hanscom Air Force Base, MA at the time. The days before the wedding we had a huge ice storm. So, to celebrate this day, I'm sending a load of warm thoughts and love.

There are many unhappy customers in the Heumann backyard this morning. Almost every feeder is empty. Oh, there is food out there. They have knocked a lot of it out on the ground. So, if they want to eat, I reckon they will just have to clean up after themselves. I have enough sunflower seed left in my can for one more round of filling. I also have another 50# bag in the car but I'm not brave enough to risk carrying that over the ice to the shed. I'm hoping it will climb above freezing today, and maybe after while I'll go out and fill the feeders.

My prayers again this morning go out for people who are suffering through this winter weather with no place to go or call home. I pray for a family involved in a weather related accident last evening in which the mother had to be life-flighted to the hospital. I pray for people who find this kind of weather so depressing and lonely that they feel their only solution is to take their own life. May God surround them with love. I pray that God's purpose for winter has been fulfilled and that we can begin to see the return to spring and flowers and sunshine.  And, of course, I offer prayers of gratitude and praise to God for the abundances of blessings and ask forgiveness for often failing to recognize them. This is the season of Lent, and our everyday prayer should begin with "Not my will, Lord, but thine be done.". Have a most wonderful day.