The Beauty of Snow

I love snow. LOVE snow. Some people think I'm a little crazy but the anticipation of a snow storm gets me all giddy. It's a similar giddiness I used to feel back in my high school days when I thought I wanted to chase tornados or be a meteorologist. I take pleasure in the hype the media portrays as it gets closer and all the crazies who run to the store to stock up on milk and bread. It might be a disease! Often I'm let down living in the banana belt that we do. When the forecasters say 12 inches it usually means less for us because of how we are situated against the continental divide and two fourteeners, as we call them. (14 thousand foot mountains)

But it's not just the anticipation. I love the magic of snow. Yes, I said it. Snow is magical! Or supernatural maybe. To me it's God's built in "rest" days. Days we get to watch it come down and take in the amazing beauty. Days we get to cuddle our family and be thankful for what we have. It forces us to stay put and pause. And because it's cold, it makes us build fires or put on soft fuzzy jammies and slippers. To me it's comfort.

It has draw backs but even those can be beautiful if you let them. Take driving. Driving in snow can be very scary and dangerous. Especially on 285 hwy here. I pray for safety each time one of us has to drive in it. But it's also kind of exciting. Challenging. Exhilarating even. And beautiful. Even stuck in traffic it can be beautiful. Another way God makes me pause and take in the amazing Glory all around me. One of my most memorable snowy drive moments was back in Kansas City. We had just celebrated Christmas Eve with John's family at his grandma's in Overland Park. Our drive back to Spring Hill was "magical." It was Aaron's first Christmas, music was playing on the radio, we had to drive very slow, and the road was silent. I remember thinking "this will be a moment I will never forget" as John and I recounted all the ways we were truly blessed.

Proverbs 31:21New International Version (NIV)

21 When it snows, she has no fear for her household;
    for all of them are clothed in scarlet.

It's also clean. (OK bear with me, there are probably chemicals and such in it but that's not my point!) It's white, the color of purity. Ps 51:7 Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow. It has a cleansing feeling to it. Especially in the morning. A reminder that each day is a clean slate with no dirt or footprints or noise. Just a blanket of beautiful grace.

This is why I love those tiny frozen puffs of magic that fall from Heaven. And in part why I love Colorado so much. I hope you all get to enjoy at least one snow storm this season where ever you are!

Isaiah 55:9-11New International Version (NIV)

9 “As the heavens are higher than the earth,
    so are my ways higher than your ways
    and my thoughts than your thoughts.
10 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,
11 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.