snow

I've been thinking alot about snow lately, probably because I have been completely surrounded by it for almost 2 weeks now. I grew up in Southern California so snow is not something I am terribly familiar with. Now that I live where it snows, I am hoping the novelty of it never wears off. Snow amazes me. I am bewildered by the fact that something can be at once so delicate yet so powerful. But the thing I am intrigued by the most is a single snowflake. I was 19 years old before I actually saw snow falling from the sky. As I looked at my glove that first time, I was surprised by what I saw. I had no idea that snowflakes really look the way we are taught to cut them from paper in school. I now have a book sitting on my coffee table filled with the most beautiful pictures of snowflakes. I could look at it all day long. But the thing that touches me the most is that of all the billions and billions of snowflakes that fall, no two are alike. Is there any better evidence for the existence of God? Who but the Master Creator could come up with all of those amazing designs?

But there is something else about snow that blows me away and that is it's pure whiteness. There is nothing so breathtaking as looking out the window after a snowstorm and viewing the untouched snow. When the sun is shining you have to shield your eyes from the brightness. Isaiah 1:18 says, "Come now, lets us reason together," says the Lord. "Though your skins are like scarlet, they shall be white as snow; though they are as red as crimson, they shall be like wool." And as I look out at the vastness of the snow surrounding me, I imagine that each little snowflake that falls is one of our sins which God has transformed. And not only has He turned them white, but He has turned each one into something new, something beautiful. No longer is it a red mark against us to condemn us. It has been transformed to reflect His glory. He takes our weaknesses and shows the world His power through His forgiveness.

I see this reflected in my own life. I was a sinner. I did some things I am ashamed of. And though I still sin, that is not what defines me anymore because Jesus died for those sins and He has made me a new creation. It continues to astound me. The person I am now would be unrecognizable to the person I once was. It is something I could never have done on my own. Only the Master Creator could have done it. Just like the snowflake, I am unique. He has given me gifts and talents that nobody else has and just like that snowflake, they are beautiful when used for his purpose.