Leaves and Snow

I take you back 40 years today when I was serving as Associate Pastor at Holy Spirit in New Hyde Park, New York. I share with you two photos taken from my window a month apart. You can see plenty of maple leaves on the ground in the first photo, just falling from the maple trees which are quite popular in the Northeast. Most of the time we had to rake them, collect them and bag them, a tiring process. 

A month later, by mid-November all the way into April of the following year, leaves are replaced with snow, as you can see in the second photo. Since the foreground is a lawn with grass, we didn’t have to shovel it as the snow waters the grass, a big blessing for us. But we had to shovel the snow from the sidewalks where people walk. This was a big responsibility, especially around schools and churches, since anyone slipping on ice, and getting hurt, can sue the church or the parish. I enjoyed shovelling as it was good exercise, but I didn’t like raking. Rather I would pray that the wind will blow them away to the next town or neighborhood.