Growing up in northern Michigan, the idea of snow in April isn’t weird to me. It wasn’t even weird to think about snow making an appearance in May or June. And at the other end of the calendar, we had to integrate snowsuits into our Halloween costume design.

But that doesn’t mean we don’t get tired of all the snow. Even in recent years when there has been a lot less of it.

By March, most of us are feeling pretty done with it. Our tolerance for once again icy roads and surprise spring blizzards evaporates by the day. Our hearts yearn for the sun to finally make an appearance. No matter how “normal” it all is.

Here are a couple of prayers with that feeling in mind.

Traditional

O Generous God, who continuously creates astounding beauty
in our world: Open our eyes to the ongoing need for freshwater
in the rejuvenating cycles of life, even as the cold and chaos
upset our human endeavors; that we may see the timeless rhythms
of the world from the narrow scope of our eternal present
and partner with Christ in your restorative grace; in the power
of your co-creative spirit. Amen.

Contemporary

OK God, I get it. I’m small. You’re big. Snow doesn’t fall
when I want it to. It comes down in tiny flurries which
don’t stick on Christmas and then dumps on us
in April. You keep telling us that you don’t do this,
despite what televangelists tell us, but
I’m still wondering if this is a joke.
Awaken my heart to see beyond my own comfort,
to see the place for precipitation; help me be OK
with small annoyances and deadly fears; protect
the travelers and the plowers who clear and salt;
and sprout that spirit of joy which blooms in
the sunlight, dormant from a long winter. Arise my joy
like the Easter lilly that it may soon blaze
like a phoenix in a Pentecost pyre; a wondrous offering
of your Spirit to the beauty of your creation. Amen.