When It Snows In March

A Reflection on St. Joseph and the ways of God

This morning, on the feast of St. Joseph, I woke up expecting to start a beautiful, clear, almost-spring kind of day. I pushed aside the curtain of the window and looked out to find…two inches of fresh snow?!? “Oh dear,” I sighed with disappointment. The earth’s ways are not our ways.

There are times when I’ve had a full day ahead of me, in which every 15 seconds is perfectly planned out. But suddenly someone needs help in housework, someone needs to switch adoration turns, I get an unexpected phone call, someone asks if I’ll go on a walk with her, and someone is upset and needs someone to vent to. And before 9 a.m. all my beautiful, predetermined plans suddenly melt before my eyes (as I hope this freak March-snow will). Anyways, the point is that God’s ways are not our ways.

If anyone really has a right to say this, it’s St. Joseph. If he had a motto, it was most likely that phrase: God’s ways are not our ways. Think about it; Joseph probably had all his desires and plans laid out for his wedding with Mary, and their quiet, simple future life together. “Such was his intention when…” suddenly the whole world is turned upside down (Mt. 1:20). Mary miraculously conceives a child through the Holy Spirit. An angel (in a dream, he doesn’t even get the consolation of knowing he’s not “just dreaming”) tells him to take Mary as his wife anyways. Then Joseph has to walk around 70 or 80 miles to Bethlehem for the census, desperately trying to find a place for Mary to stay while she’s about to give birth. Then he has to flee in the middle of the night with his family to a foreign country to escape a murderous ruler, and then, in response to another dream, go all the way back to his home town. And this is all before the kid is three years old! Surveying the whole situation at a glance, it would seem that this is a father’s worst nightmare. Oh yeah, and I forgot to mention that he’s the only member of his family who’s not perfect. Can you say “NO PRESSURE?!?”

So why didn’t Joseph go crazy, throw in the towel, or decide to divorce Mary in the first place and avoid all of this chaos? Precisely because he was humble enough and docile enough to trust and accept that God’s ways were not his ways. Because of this ability to be open, listen, and promptly respond, God raised him in from his lowliness and made him the protector of the Blessed Virgin and the foster-father of Jesus. I don’t think St. Joseph planned on being named the patron of the universal Church. He simply allowed himself to be led by Love and allowed God to change his plans.

How do we react when God changes our plans? Maybe we have ‘good intentions,’ like Joseph, in wanting to do something or pursue some path. But even good intentions can stop our growth in holiness if those best of intentions prevent us from being open to God’s will. We need to imitate Joseph’s simplicity and openness in every aspect of life!

So the next time God throws you a snowball, err, curveball, ask St. Joseph to intercede for you to God, that God will give you the docility and strength to trust Him even when your plans are changed. Because after all, God’s ways are not our ways.