Who Would Have Thought?

Disasters happen. But are they always a bad thing?


If you watch the news or the weather channel then you probably heard about the massive snow that much of America experienced a few weeks ago. I say "experienced". It was actually more like a pre-apocalyptic blizzard that was so sudden and unexpected that we got a little idea of what it might feel like to be buried under a rain of volcanic ash.


We hardly ever get a sizable snow in Northwest Arkansas. Really--we think that four inches is huge! We put on our ski gear and head for a hill with our little sleds, then zoom down the slope for a couple of hours until there's grass poking through our tracks, then then call it a day and go inside for hot chocolate and brownies.


This, however, was a very different story. I woke up one morning and simply couldn't believe my eyes. This is what my cottage garden arbor looks like in spring:

And this is what I woke up to:

I was shocked, to say that least. But the whole family was pretty happy with this snowpocalypse. After all, it was a novelty, and we were safe and warm inside our house with plenty of ingredients for hot soup.

Then Aaron went for a walk to the back of our property, behind the line of juniper trees. He called out...

"The tractor shed collapsed!"

Sure enough, here is the sight that greeted us when we trudged back there through the knee-deep snow:

At first we were little short of devastated. Sure we have insurance, but what about the deductible? There goes the new furniture fund. There goes another mini-vacation. We're behind again in the financial race. Dad, for one, was very upset. It just seemed like the latest blow in a series of nasty blows.  


But, I'll give us all credit, we took it well after a while. We tried to be cheerful, thanking God that the only thing that seemed to be damaged was the already dented hood of our old tractor. It could have been much worse.


Then the insurance man came out, looked it over, and gave us a quote. We were thrilled beyond belief! It was all so much better than we could have hoped. By doing the work of dismantling and putting up the new shed ourselves, this whole thing could actually work out to be a good thing!


So it just goes to show--don't be hasty and assume that a "disaster" will automatically be a terrible blow. It could actually improve on your situation! We might be getting some new furniture soon after all....