A Snowbird is a term often associated with people who move from colder climates of the northern USA and Canada and migrate southward in winter to warmer locales such as Florida, California, Hawaii, Arizona, Texas, or elsewhere along the Sun Belt of the southern United States and into Mexico.  Canadians took on the name, “Snowbird” as their own when Anne Murray (Canada’s sweetheart), in 1969 sang her way into all our hearts with the line: “Spread your tiny wings and fly away, and take the snow back with you where it came from on that day…”

I’m being really honest here but I am NOT a fan of snow.  I never took to the snow sports, so I don’t take advantage of the winter weather to do “fun” things.  For me, it’s an endurance to suffer through the snowy seasons until the warm weather returns…and that can sometimes be a very long wait.  In Alberta I have seen snow in all twelve months!  Thank goodness we also have those wonderful Chinook winds that can blow in so temperatures rise from well below 0 C to into double-digit temperatures within hours.  Barometric pressure messes with my head, so it’s migraine time when that happens!

We are very used to snow, we Canadians.  We have to be!  When snow is on the ground on an average of eight months a year, we learn to live with the white stuff.  We are very spoiled where we live with the views of the Rockies, and the snow on their peaks make them even more beautiful!  That’s about the only benefit I see with having snow in our vicinity.  I love looking at the mountains!

Enroute back home from Las Vegas, we spent the night in Ely, Nevada and woke up to snow this morning!  In fact, we are the cold spot in the U.S. this morning!  I knew I was going home to snow in Alberta, but I sure did not expect snow in Nevada!  I reluctantly retired my tank top, shorts and sandals and put on my jeans and sweater.  I am in a woe-is-me mode this morning lamenting the fact we are leaving summer behind the farther north we travel.

Our “Great Adventure” continues as we travel north.  God uses the weather to teach me along the way.  As much as I love the summer weather we have experienced the last four weeks, the reality is that there will be days of bad weather…and snow!

We travel with God through all seasons of life.  We love the fair weather, but certainly there are far more lessons learned through cold, snowy months.  Those are the times we hunker down and just try to stay warm and connected with God.  So today, I’m looking out the RV window and I’m seeing a ray of sunlight peak over the snow-covered peaks here in Ely and I can’t help but smile.  This Snowbird is almost home.

“He Who forms the mountains, Who creates the wind, and Who reveals His thoughts to mankind,
Who turns dawn to darkness, and treads on the heights of the earth—the Lord God Almighty is His name..” Amos 4:13