Windrows. A new
word! Having been raised on “Wordly Wise”
at the Lovett School in Atlanta, where we had weekly quizzes on almost
every arcane word known to the English-speaking world, I find it oddly exciting to find a new word. The word of the week is “windrow.” Around here, it means the pile of snow that
is left at the foot of your driveway after the plows have come by. In case you haven’t experienced windrows
after 14 inches of snow, those suckers can be 4-5 feet high. Literally. And that’s after you’ve already worked to get your driveway pristinely clear.
Some folks around here have complained to the city about the
windrows, as if the plow drivers leave them there intentionally. “Hey, I’ve been driving this snowplow for 12
hours, I think I’ll have a little fun and leave a mountain range of snow in
this person’s driveway.” I see it as just the opposite. I had a lovely, clean,
windrow-free driveway for most of the day yesterday, because my street remained
unplowed. I was thrilled when I looked out late last night and saw my very own
windrow- the plows had come! Andy and I
cleared it as new snow kept falling, and we cleared another one this
morning. Keep the plows coming, we’ll
clean all the windrows you can give us.
I’ve been thinking about spiritual growth a lot lately. Right now is one of those seasons in my life
where circumstances are forcing me to grow a little faster than I’d prefer.
Sometimes it’s kind of messy, and often it irritates me. “I thought I’d gotten this thing cleaned up
in my head a long time ago, and now I’m dealing with it again? Ugh!” What I’m
really seeing, I think, are windrows.
The plow has come by, big things are getting cleared up, and the things
that irritate me most are simply the remnants of something bigger that is
happening. So I’ll shovel myself out one more time and be thankful that the
plows have found their way to me.
