You may love or hate it, but you will see snow here in the northern country. What’s your perspective on it?
Eternal Perspectives by Sally Bair
White as Snow
We’ve had enough snow this year to choke a horse, or choke a car that slides into a ditch. Between the snow and the ice, our winter leaves many of us yearning for spring. Like me, perhaps you have had to shovel snow off your car, around its tires, and along necessary paths. Like me, you might tell God, “Enough, already!” But snow has a great purpose.
My mom loved the snow. She didn’t drive so she walked to the block-away mailbox in her stocking feet, reveling in the cold air and feel of the snow beneath her. My dad thought she was crazy, but he kept watch on her during her treks. Mom took close notice of God’s creation and wrote poems about it. Here’s one called “Sequence of Winter White” by Ruth Christiansen.
“Birch trees, accented on mist blue, Weave in design, each new.
An ermine, tail tipped black, Bounds along where partridge track.
Clouds of strewn gauze ride high in organdy-crisp [winter] sky.
Soft snow feathers fill the air, Flutter, pair by pair,
until, persisting, they fulfill The need of day, quiet and still.
Great snow drifts soon form children’s forts,
And ghost-like structures of many sorts.
White things are, for a surety, Reminders of God’s purity.”
Compared to my mom’s perspective, our thoughts about snow may be negative, depending on our activities or health. But God has a few positive things to say about our winter’s white stuff. For instance, Isaiah 55:10-11 gives us a visual comparison of snow and God’s Word. “For as the rain comes down, and the snow from heaven, and do not return there, but water the earth, and make it bring forth and bud that it may give seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall My Word be that goes forth from My mouth; it shall not return to Me void. But it shall accomplish what I please, and it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it.”
My favorite passage, also written by the prophet Isaiah, offers much hope and positivity. “Come now, and let us reason together,” says the Lord, “though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall be as wool.” (Isaiah 1:18)
None of us are innocent of wrongdoing, yet our merciful God promises that with repentance of our sins, He will forgive us of the blood-like sins that condemn us. Through His only Son Jesus, who shed His blood, taking our sins upon Himself at Calvary, we can be washed as clean as snow that covers the dirt and grime beneath it.
Lord, thank You for Your gift of salvation. Guide us through Your Word and Spirit to remain as white as snow in our daily walk with You. In Jesus’ name, amen.
Comments