The snow covers the ground like a thick blanket. Depending on which edge of the blanket I lift, I find different memories there.
The World Is Coming To An End!
I grew up in the deep south, where we went barefoot for most of the year and usually needed no more than a jacket to get through the winters.
I had never even seen snow until I was in high school. It snowed just enough to give a white dusting to the ground. We were somewhere between joyful awe and fear that the appearance of this strange stuff might signal the end of the world.
Surrounded by God’s Majesty
When I graduated from college, I moved to Germany, where I was a school nurse for a year. I was introduced to real snow there. I needed a heavy coat, hat, gloves, boots … the whole armor to survive. I was intrigued initially, but quickly tired of slogging through wet snows.
But then, I was introduced to Majestic Snow. I visited Switzerland and later Austria. Not even a picture can adequately describe the wonder of being surrounded by the Alps covered with snow.
Later in life, I visited Alaska and once again was awed by being surrounded by snows and walls of ice from glaciers.
Lovingly Packed in Snow by God
In the mid 1970s, I was traveling alone on the snow and ice covered Bluegrass Parkway in Kentucky. My car spun out of control on the ice and ended up in a snowbank. (That whole episode is a story in itself to be told at another time!) I had only minor injuries. When the doctor examined me and heard what had happened, he said that likely it was the snow that saved my life. It acted as a divine packing around me!
Snow As A Challenge
For many years, I dreaded the coming of Kentucky winters. I was a Nurse Manager at a busy Medical Center. While stores and schools closed for snow days, the hospital never closed. Many times staff could not get to work and other staff had to work long hours in their place. I was responsible for the care of patients. That responsibility weighed so heavily on me that I never enjoyed the beauty and peacefulness of the snow. Snow was, instead, the sounding of an unpleasant alarm.
Love Letters In The Snow
When I retired, I was once again awed, as I had been in the Alps, to see the wondrous snow flakes dancing in the wind. I marveled at how delicately they landed on our deck. They were like little messengers from Heaven. I felt reunited with those who had already gone to Heaven. After all, the snow came from there!
One night, I had the urge to respond to God, who was uniting us so sweetly. I went out on the deck in the snow and wrote a gigantic “I LOVE YOU!” in a heart. I felt assured that my message reached Home!
Lying Down in White Pastures
As beautiful as is the snow, it can also bring the usual activities of life to a standstill. As a recent snow storm made it impossible to get out and enjoy my favorite activity of going for a ride, the snow seemed a barrier.
I always puzzled over the 23rd Psalm, which says, “He makes me lie down in green pastures.” If the pastures are green, why wouldn’t I want to lie down there? Why would I have to be made to lie down?
When I asked God, He answered, “How would you know they are green? You never stay still long enough to know. You’re always running ahead or looking at your neighbor’s pastures. Be still and know that I am God! I created the pasture you are in, just for you!”
Events that force us to be still often lead to the greatest revelations of life. When we are still enough to look at God’s Creation, we see His Majesty all around us. It doesn’t even take going to the Alps or Alaska. His Majesty is revealed right here and now!
God’s Love Letters to Us In The Snow
God spelled out His Love for us in the snow.
As the rain and the snow
come down from heaven,
and do not return to it
without watering the earth
and making it bud and flourish,
so that it yields seed for the sower
and bread for the eater,
so is My Word that goes out from My Mouth:
it will not return to me empty,
but will accomplish what I desire
and achieve the purpose
for which I sent it.
Isaiah 55:10-11
God’s Words are not just a collection of letters of the alphabet. God’s Word is a Person named Jesus, Who was and is and is yet to come.
The Word became flesh,
and made His Dwelling among us …
John 1:14
Why did God reveal Himself as Jesus?
He sent His Word and healed them (us);
He rescued them (us) from the grave.
Psalm 107:20
Did Jesus really come for us? We can all think of some serious sins we have committed. (And if you can’t, ask God to reveal them to you!) How is it possible that God could forgive those?
And yet, listen to what He says … another Love Letter written in snow.
“Come now, let us settle the matter,”
says The Lord.
“Though your sins be as scarlet,
they shall be as white as snow …”
Isaiah 1:18
When our sins are forgiven, we see ourselves as God created us to be … an important part of His Majesty. Isaiah 55:10-11 (see above) tells of God’s Word being sent like the rain and the snow. The very next verse tells us what happens when we receive His Word!
You will go out in joy
and be led forth in peace;
the mountains and the hills
will burst into song before you,
and all the trees of the field
will clap their hands!
Isaiah 55:12
When Jesus, The Word, spoke, He verified that He had come to bring that joy and peace.
I have told you this
so that My Joy may be in you
and that your joy may be complete!
John 15:11
I have told you these things,
so that in Me, you may have Peace.
In this world, you will have trouble.
But take heart!
I have overcome the world!”
John 16:33
