For several months now I have been keeping watch over a strange, and somewhat marvelous,sight. Nearly every day for the last seven months as I make my way onto the freeway entrance ramp near the Cathedral in St. Paul, I glance over at the Sears parking lot. The lot has been home to an enormous mound of snow. At its peak it was, I would guess, several stories tall and larger than two rambler houses set end to end. Next to this mound was a smaller but still impressive mound of frozen precipitation. Over the last two to three months these formations have lost their whiteness and instead become black and grimy with exhaust, pollution and just good,old normal dirt.

The thing is, it is now May 18 and the snow hills are still there! That’s right. It has been at least eighty degrees on a couple of days and in the sixties and seventies the last couple of weeks. Still, snow sits on the Sears lot. It has slowly shrunk to perhaps 10 feet in height and a small trickle of melted water makes its way onto the boulevard. But there is still snow on the ground here in St. Paul.

While I can and do take varying routes to the office, I now have been going only one way. It has become a daily ritual to check on ‘my’ snow. The sight of it makes me laugh and reminds me where we’ve come from. And as I’ve observed this near glacier like movement of melt, its presence has become metaphor for me.

The enormous mound of snow has come to represent all that which builds up in our lives and becomes bigger than its individual parts. When I think of the size of a snowflake, their individual beauty and uniqueness, I am humbled. When those same snowflakes get piled on top of one another for hours, days, weeks, months, they become something very different. Something that lasts a very long time. Something that gets covered with dirt and garbage which,then, forms a crust that makes it nearly impenetrable. The fragility of snowflakes held together is a profound and powerful statement.

That is what has happened to the Sears snow. That is what also happens to us when hurts and grudges are allowed to pile up and cement themselves to our souls. It is what happens when we find ourselves encrusted with bad habits, hurtful words, addictions, old baggage we allow to define us. The pile gets higher and higher and it takes a powerful force to melt its hold. Ever have this happen in your life?

What can melt such a structure? The warmth of friendship and community is a good start. Self-loving also helps. Asking and seeking forgiveness goes a long way. Being gentle with ourselves and others can be helpful. Recognizing what is ours to do and not do is also powerful. Prayer. Laughter. A good cup of coffee and a piece of chocolate wouldn’t hurt either.

I’ll make my way to the office in a few minutes. As I drive by the snow that lingers into May, I’ll laugh. Laugh and offer my thanks for its gifts and the wisdom it has offered.

I’ll also pray that it melts very soon.