Heavy snow. Strong winds. Cold temperatures. Two widow neighbors. One snow blower. Throw these things together and I knew I wouldn’t have any fun for the next couple days. On this cold winter morning in December I woke up to a moderate snowfall in central Iowa
It snowed all day and in the afternoon the wind picked up. Due to the storm, we left work an hour early. As soon as I got home I fired up the snow blower and I quickly cleared off my short driveway and then prepared myself mentally for snow drifts. The first widow’s home has a driveway about 110 feet long. The last 30 feet next to the detached garage always drifts if there is any wind. I pushed the snow blower to her home and discovered I didn’t have the right tools. The city plow had pushed hard crusty snow at least 13 feet up her driveway. What I needed was a flamethrower, a jackhammer and some dynamite. I resolved to slowly eat away at this mess but I first glanced toward her garage and my fears were confirmed; there were large drifts next to her garage. It wasn’t her fault but I was mad now. It would take me forever to clear her driveway since the drifts were over four foot high by the garage and the intake height of my snow blower was eleven inches.
So it began. I pushed ahead one foot in this petrified precipitation and pulled the machine back before it died. Over and over and over again. My bad right shoulder was now protesting. Pain shot through the joint and radiated down to my forearm. I didn’t understand why my elbow should also hurt but it just added to my mental funk. When I reached the portion of her driveway that was on the west end of her home I encountered the dreaded maelstrom. This is an area where the wind swirls and you don’t really throw the snow any direction; you just eat it and wear it on your clothing. No matter which direction I turned the discharge chute, the snow blew back in my face. I was now a triple threat; Angry, tired and wet. By the time I was done with the snow dunes I was thinking of demanding payment. This lady and her son had a popcorn business and she was would often bring over caramel corn and chocolate covered popcorn but now it didn’t seem adequate compensation. Did she realize how important I was? Did she know how much agony I was in? Did she know that I had a pound and a half of snow down my shorts? As I pushed my snow blower back down the driveway toward home I remembered that I needed to clear the small sidewalk up to her front door. Wearily I struggled into the wind and as I came past the living room window I glanced inside. That’s when I saw the angel sitting at the front window.
She was maybe four years old with curly shoulder length hair and the light from the Christmas decorations made it seem golden. There was a twinkle in her eye and she was watching me intently. She was innocent and pure and altogether beautiful and she waved and smiled at me. My heart melted since I’m a pushover for little girls and I was flooded with a mixture of emotions: guilt, shame, joy, contentment and happiness. The self pity I had been feeling was gone and I was now thinking about Christmas and the beauty of the season. One man (the God-Man) had given up everything so that I might have a right relationship with God. This one little girl made me think about the real meaning of this Christmas season. One little girl had transformed an ugly ogre into a homely man willing to help his neighbor. She was my neighbor’s granddaughter but I think that was just a disguise. To me she was an angel sent to change me and I’ll always see that little face as I blow snow around this home. God bless her.
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