The First Snowfall of the Season

There is something so incredibly beautiful about the first snowfall of the season. I awoke this morning to a blissfully warm, quiet, peaceful house. The boys were with their father, and I had the opportunity to linger alone in my bed, cosy and warm until almost 8:30, a very late rising for me!

I turned the corner to the kitchen and was momentarily blinded by the brilliance of the sunshine reflecting off the freshly fallen snow. It took me by surprise, and I ran to the door feeling like a small child. I laughed out loud and only let the disappointment of not being able to share my delight with the boys hurt for a moment before I threw open the door to the chilly air. I stood breathing deeply and allowing myself to smell the unmistakable aroma of cold.

It is just so beautiful, how a blanket of freshly fallen snow washes the earth clean, the whiteness, the brilliance, the purity of it all. I imagine God’s love for us is the same way, washing us clean, His unstained whiteness, His brilliance, His purity.

Unfortunately, we often need to go through those periods of intense cold in our lives to have those periods of pure snowy white brilliance. We all go through periods during which it seems as though we are in hibernation. Although we are awake, we are exhausted by going through motions. It seems as though life is happening around us, but we are not fully engaged, as though we are outsiders sleepily  trapped in a dark cave looking out. We feel like the maple tree whose sap has stopped flowing. Our very life blood feels as though it has frozen below the surface, and we are unable to move, hoping, praying, waiting for a thaw. 

When the cold comes – and it will! – look for the brilliance that follows, the brilliance, the blinding, the beauty, that envelopes your heart and soul and changes who you are internally as well as externally. You can fight the cold by putting your head down and hunkering down, but then you will be blinded to the beauty God uses the cold to bring.

Or, you can allow yourself to be transformed by the brilliantly reflected sun sparkling up at you from each new snowfall. Those sparkles, those tiny lights that dance off that freshly fallen snow cannot come during a warm season so enjoy that season of cold. Learn from that it. Embrace it. You will get through it to warmer days.

And when that spring thaw does come and the air warms – and it will! – do not remain trapped in the dark, wintery cave of your own cold heart. Do not prevent the blood from flowing freely in your veins again. Remember the cold. Learn what led you to the cold. Avoid being cold unnecessarily, but when the cold cycles around again keep your eyes open for the beauty and the opportunity to be washed clean again in the blanket of God’s brilliant love for you.

Remember, God sends the snow to insulate us from the cold. He gives us those moments of purity and beauty, even in the worst of icy storms, to show us that He can wash away all the bad we have done and all the bad others have done to us, and He can use those periods of cold to transform us and our world into one of purity and beauty if we choose to see it!

God Bless…