This is my neighbor Sue. She’s a precious lady. She lives alone. She has a big driveway. The sky has been dropping big snow on Sue’s big driveway.
Today, I was outside taking pictures of the snow, and as I came off my front porch I could hear talking. Just over the mounds of snow I could see the tops of two peoples head.
It was Sue and Ashley (the young lady who lives in Amy and I’s downstairs apartment). They were shoveling Sue’s big driveway and talking and laughing.
I walked over, took some pictures then told them my momma would kill me if she saw me standing here taking pictures while you two were shoveling. In 20 minutes we had her driveway and entrance to the road all clear.
Between scoops of snow, I told Sue I knew some guys who come over to our house every Wednesday who I’m sure would love to clean off her drive-way for her. She stopped shoveling, looked up at me, wiped the hair from her face and said sincerely, “Josh, that sure would be nice.”
The snow has a way of bringing people together. When traffic is bad in the summer we hate each other. When it’s bad in the winter and someone’s stuck, I’ve seen multiple times, multiple people get out of their running cars, put on their gloves and push someone through an intersection. I’ve even seen cheering and high-fives as the person drove away waving their hand out the window in gratitude. Somehow the snow seems to make strangers siblings.
Maybe this winter, you and I shouldn’t be in such a hurry. Maybe this winter, we could be outside more, go buy an extra shovel and see who we can serve and get to know. I don’t know if it snowed much where Jesus grew up but I don’t think it’s much of a stretch for us to believe Jesus would have said, “When you shovel a widow’s driveway or push someone through an intersection in my name, you do so unto me.”