Outside the snow is falling...

Snow's been falling steadily since before daybreak so it's a quiet, all-day-fire, crock-pot-chili and homemade-cornbread kind of day.  I'm especially happy because everyone is safe at home.

Of course, I know that not everyone considers days like this one a treasure. For every happy-to-be-home baker, for every skier and snowboarder celebrating on the slopes, there's a single parent worrying about child care, a minimum wage earner shoveling in haste and coaxing a tired, worn-out, temperamental car to please start. There are the homeless and the hungry. On days like this, I think of them and say a prayer that they find shelter from the cold. 

A long time ago, I wrote this lullaby for a little girl who is now a beautiful young woman. As with all my lullabies, I remember where I was when the melody and words came to me. I remember the snow falling soft and deep outside the nursery window. In the moonlight each flake seemed weighted with beauty and wonder. I was grateful to be home,  grateful for the curly-top nestled in my arms.

Outside the snow is falling,

so white, so deep.

Inside a mother's rocking

her child to sleep...

Let every snowflake 

be a prayer

that children,

children everywhere,

might know 

how sweet it is to sleep

safe in their mother's arms. 

^♫

Outside the snow is falling,

So soft, so deep.

Inside a mother’s rocking

her child to sleep.

And every snowflake’s 

like a prayer

that mothers,

mothers everywhere,

might know 

how sweet it is to keep

their child sheltered from the storm. 

Whoever you are, wherever you are, I wish you shelter and peace!