It’s snowing this morning. Finishing my granola, I sat and watched the snow fly about. It was several minutes before I realized I was still sitting there on the futon, empty bowl in hand, gazing out the window. I’m not sure what I was thinking about or what specifically I was looking at, but I had a smile on my face. I enjoy snow.
To a child, snow is magical. Here in Missouri some school children practice a snow ritual of wearing pajamas inside out and backwards along with putting a spoon under their pillows to “make it snow.” Sort of a snow dance, if you will. I grew up in Michigan where there was no need for a snow dance. We got plenty of it every year. Of course, snow didn’t guarantee a day off from school either, except for the one year we had a new principal from Florida. His first year we had a lot of snow days!
I love the smell in the air right before snow starts. As long as I can remember, I could tell by smell if it was about to snow. We had a mail slot in the front door of our house growing up and I would stick my nose in the opening, sniffing deeply to see if the snow was about to begin.
Even now, there’s something that I still find magical about snow. I know the adult realities of shoveling, and the mess of melting snow (and the ashes used in Missouri – don’t even get me started), and scraping the car windows, yeah, yeah, yeah. But it’s SNOW.
While shoveling the driveway this past week, I had to stop to take a quick photo, above. A few flurries were still swirling around me and I marveled at them resting on my jacket sleeve. Each one so beautiful and fragile.
It’s easy for me to see God in the snow. Here’s two that immediately come to mind:
Uniqueness. There are no two snowflakes alike, right? Take a look at these up close and personal photos of snowflakes in a photomicroscope and snowflakes in an electron microscope. Amazing! Even though the snowflakes fall into similar categories, they each have unique attributes. The Bible says, Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness…”. We are made in God’s image, but we are all made unique and individually. God could have created a world of just plain balls of snow (like a basic flash animation) without the intricate detail, but instead he made snowflakes delicate and beautiful. We see his glory in the snow.
Purity. Looking out across a field of fresh snow, there’s nothing to mar the perfection, just pure white snow. Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. This was King David’s cry to God as he repented of his adulterous affair with Bathsheba. What a reminder that when we confess our sins to God, he removes the guilt of our sin and washes us clean, whiter than snow. I recall an old hymn we sang in my Dad’s church.
Lord Jesus, I long to be perfectly whole;
I want Thee forever to live in my soul;
Break down every idol, cast out every foe—
Now wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.
The pure white of new fallen snow reminds us of what God will do in the heart of all of us as we turn from our sins to him.
What have I missed in my snowy morning ponderings? What other ways can you add of how God is seen in or through the snow?
Laura Kebede
/ January 28, 2011Snow makes us slow down in the midst of busyness whether driving or going about our daily business. The beauty makes us pause and stare. May this be a daily occurrence with how I see God.
I never heard about the spoon under the pillow thing hehe. I can just imagine little Janice stooping down toward the mail slot. So cute! 🙂