buckets of snowI spent most of Monday and Tuesday last week melting snow. We were among the few who did not lose power during the winter storm, but we lost water for a few days. We were surrounded by snow, having just come through the biggest snowfall in Abilene history on Sunday, so I decided to melt snow for water, at least to keep our toilets functional.

With 5-gallon buckets originally used for joint compound, I trudged outside to fill bucket after bucket and set them in the laundry room to thaw. They didn’t. So I repeatedly dumped snow into our crockpot that we kept running most of two days. It was slow, tedious, and inefficient, but it worked. We maintained a modicum of civilization by keeping the toilets flushed most of the time. Others were not so lucky.

While doing that for most of two days, I was reminded of the book, “Chop wood, carry water.” I never read the book, but I browsed it enough to get the gist. Meaning can be found in doing the most mundane tasks of daily maintenance. In fact, I must find meaning in daily tasks if I am to experience a satisfying life, because much of life is spent doing those tasks.

I admit, I spent some time during those two days mulling the attitude, “Damned snow, damned water system, damned cold, etc.” Gradually I came to the realization, “I’m glad I have this snow, I’m glad I am physically capable of doing this, I’m glad I have power for the crockpot, I’m glad I have a comfortable house with functioning toilets.” The list of “I’m glads” got longer and longer. Before long I was grateful to be melting snow. My ventures out to scoop up another bucket-full ceased to be chore. My impatience with the crockpot yielded to relaxing in the waiting.

Lent encourages us to be aware, to pay attention to those things, people, activities that easily go unnoticed. For me, I had to melt some snow.