The Midwest, particularly Minnesota and Wisconsin, has recently received a large dumping of snow. A blizzard. A whopping foot of damp, depressing, dismal snow.... and May is only a short 11 days away.
Needless to say, like all the thousands of other Minnesotans and Wisconsinites, I am shaking my fists of rage at the blankets of white and the snow-laden trees screaming, "Where is spring!!?!?"
Also needless to say, I have a poor, pessimistic attitude about all of this. I'm the type of person that is utterly romantic for white Christmases and snowy New Year's Eves, but then loathes and wishes the snow away as soon as January 2nd comes around.
I hate snow. I hate how cold it is. I hate how I have to spend an extra 10 minutes scraping and wiping and sweeping the snow off my car. I hate that it takes me an hour to drive somewhere that should have taken me 20 minutes. I hate that I can't take a walk outside without loading on the boots, snow pants, coat, scarf, etc. etc. until you look like you are about to embark on an Antarctic expedition.
So, 8 a.m. comes, my alarm wakes me up on a Friday morning, I take one look outside and I instantly want to go back to bed. I quick check my email in case my professor decided to have a heart and cancel class. He didn't. I begrudgingly brush my teeth, wash my face, put my clothes on and go about my usual morning routine.
Let me interrupt my own story right here. I promise, it has something to do with the whole theme of this post, just keep reading.
We hear so often, especially from the mouths of Christians, that "God loves you!" And they say it with a fake smile on their face and an annoyingly cheery attitude. When I'm in a bad mood or having a crappy time in my life, honestly that's the last thing I want to hear. I know God loves me, but what good does that do me for my bad mood right now? Go shine your sunshine attitude to someone who has rainbows coming out of their butt right now, and they'll gladly agree.
Don't get me wrong, I wholeheartedly agree that God loves me and everyone very, very much. So much, in fact, that the human mind literally cannot comprehend it. But, c'mon! Give me some advice I can actually apply and use overly cheery Christian person!
When a person loves another person, whether it's puppy love or the real thing, they flirt with them in different ways. I believe that God flirts with us. Not in a romantic, sexual way of course (who do you think I am!?), but more like a friendly smile, or a wink, or a nudge, or a joke to make you laugh. You can laugh, but I'm dead serious. God flirts with us! It might be to make us smile, or to make us laugh, or to just show us how much he loves us, or to soften that icy heart or attitude with a little harmless lovin'.
So, God flirted with me today. I must say, I wasn't particularly flattered at first. It was like the type of flirting you receive from an unwanted specimen, so you roll your eyes and pretend like they didn't say or do those flirty gestures. I had such a sour attitude that I didn't want to receive it, therefore I denied the subtle "kiss" or "wink" from God. I put God in the friend zone today.
As I am trudging through the Alaskan-like snow with my boots that I never want to see again for the next 6 months, I was just ticked. And I mean, ticked. I wanted spring, and I wanted it now!
For some reason, right then, God decided to flirt with me. It started to snow... again. But this time, it was this fluffy, dreamy-like, soft snow. It fell on my cheeks like soft, little kisses. I literally said out loud (don't worry, nobody was around me) "Stop flirting with me God, I'm not in the mood." Then the clouds parted and the sun shone like a spotlight right on me. The sun made the snowflakes sparkle like a dazzling sunlit ocean, like dancing diamonds in the sky. It was like the parting of the clouds and the beam of sunlight, which lasted a whole 10 minutes this morning, was a giant radiant smile from God.
Despite the unwanted snow and my horrible attitude, God's pestering flirting made me smile. It made me see the beauty in the snow instead of what should be in its place right now (green grass, budding trees, flowers). I cracked a smile right then and there, on my way to class, and I even looked up and gave God a subtle wink. Who says we can't flirt back?
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