At the time of writing, I noticed that snow was forecast for our region during the week. It reminded me of a teacher friend who once informed me, with great pleasure, “We had a snow day today”. Well, of course, we’ve had quite a few days of snow in recent years. We’ve skidded on the side-roads, crawled on the major roads, slipped on the steps and suffered splash marks from the sludge on our clothes. Yes, we know all about snow days. But that’s not what my friend meant. A snow day for her meant the school was closed and she could go home and spend time relaxing with her partner and her 1-year-old son. It meant time to be quiet, unstressed and alone with those who really matter.

For many of us life today is lived at a relentless and exhausting pace. It’s a world filled with pressures to be overcome, targets to be met, people to be seen and duties to be performed. Even retirement, for some people, leads not to the anticipated pleasures of relaxation and leisurely pursuits, but simply to a different kind of frenetic busyness. There are times, I’m sure when many of us will want to cry out, “Stop the world! I want to get off!”

Yet, Christian tradition points to a different way of living. Jesus promised a rich and abiding sense of rest to those who come and follow him. The modern-day mystic Thomas Kelly writes, “I find God never guides us into an intolerable scramble of panting feverishness.” What a wonderful way of describing so many of us today!

Maybe it’s time for us to plan a ‘snow day’ into our schedules. To set aside some time to be quiet, unstressed and alone with those who really matter: our families, our friends, our selves and God. Not as a means of selfish indulgence, but as a means of receiving refreshment and perspective in life. A place from which we can carry a sense of God-centredness into those activities to which we will have to return. I’m going to plan a ‘snow day’ in my diary right now. How about you?