Praise the Lord for the Joys of Winter

                                                 Vanderwater Conservation Area -- photo Ruth Mundy

The other day I blogged about my sense of anticipation for a Winter storm which eventually dumped 35 centimetres of snow on our area in such short order that snow-clearing crews couldn't keep up and lots of us had our shovelling work cut out for us. The next day brought blue skies so we headed north a few kilometres to cross-country ski at a Conservation Area along a river, as you can see in the photos. 

I lamented the fact that there don't seem to be hymns which celebrate the joyful, playful gifts of Winter. Well,my sister-in-law Shirley, who is a congregational music minister, answered the call after coming in from her own shovelling. Using the tune for Natalie Sleeth's hymn Praise the Lord with the Sound of Trumpet (Voices United 245) she penned two verses for what she calls Winter Joys -- perfect!

1.Praise the Lord for the joys of winter, praise the Lord for a world transformed,  

praise the Lord for the trees and houses adorned. 

Praise the Lord for snowy angels, praise the Lord for the chance to play

praise the Lord for this  heavenly display.

Praise the Lord for our children’s laughter, praise the Lord for their sleds on hills, 

praise the Lord for their rosy cheeks, for tumbles and for spills.

Praise the Lord for the game of hockey, blades on ice let us fly with ease, 

gifts of sport made to cheer us and to please.

2. Praise the Lord for the fun of snow forts, purple shadows at day’s end, 

joys of winter help our spirits mend.

Praise the Lord for our walks through woodlands, creatures leave their footprints there,

 God’s creation marks the snow with care.

Praise the Lord for the squeak of footsteps on the freshly fallen snow, 

Praise the Lord for windows etched with frosty white tableau.

Praise the Lord for the time of winter, time to sing and time to play,

Praise the Lord every season, every day!

Shirley has captured the best of a Canadian Winter in these words and phrases, for which I'm very grateful. 

Even though this morning's temperature and dreaded windchill are hovering around -30C we will get out to enjoy the sunshine and we may even take these lyrics along to offer our Groundling praise to the Creator. We'll watch to see if the notes drop to the snow like icicles. 

                                                 Vanderwater Conservation Area -- photo Ruth Mundy