When you buy a bag of potato chips – not that I would buy one – but if you did buy a bag, you would find a “best before date” stamped on it.

That’s a good thing because many things have a shelf life, and after that much of their goodness is gone.

In the case of fruits and vegetables, they have a “best before date” built right into them. When a banana’s skin gets brown, we say it’s overripe. It’s a nice way of saying it’s rotting (it doesn’t hurt the fruit’s feelings).

We toss things out if they’ve gone past their “best before date”, whether it’s stamped on their package or written all over their face … I mean, skin.

I wish we could have a “best before date” for snow. If snow had a “best before date” I think that February 28th would be a really good date to stamp on it.

But better than a stamp, it would be great if snow just started to rot around that date. In Canada we call that melting – and that would be perfect right about now!

What’s bugging me today is that it’s near the end of March, the temperature outside is -14 C and the snow on my front yard is still very … let’s say “ripe”. It’s showing no signs of going bad.

To be fair, it’s getting thin in some spots, but there is still lots of it in most places. … It’s like a guy who is going bald. At first you can see through a patch of hair and tell that he’s thinning, but you don’t think bald because he still has so much hair.

That’s all I can say about the snow on my front lawn: it’s thinning. But what if it had a “best before date” of February 28? By now it would be all gone; it would be bald.

At one time going bald was not considered something to cheer about. But today being bald is a fashion statement for men. Some guys shave their heads just so they can have that look.

So, I think that when it comes to snow, we really need to consider that trend. If the end of February really is a good “best before date” for snow, one of two things needs to happen:

Either the sun cooperates and melts that snow away, or the city has to take measures to shave it bald, and in the case of snow that would mean haul it away.

Maybe the city could hire their summer staff a little early on years when the snow was only thinning in March and have crews come along with shovels and dumpsters for the snow.

Better yet, have them come with industrial-sized hair dryers and dry out the snow. I understand that for guys going bald using a hair dryer speeds up the process … at least that’s what a friend told me years ago before he went bald.

Here’s the thing: When life bring hardships, hassles and hurts, we just want them to go away; we want to get past them. The best way to see that happen is to apply some heat and effort.  Turn your attention to the heat of prayer and the effort of searching God’s word. As you pray and study during difficult times, you will find that God brings you into a new season.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What do you need to spend more time praying and studying for right now? Leave your comment below.