Snow - Friend or Foe?

Snow is sometimes the beauty, but at other times it can be the beast.

It seems we have a love-hate relationship with snow. Many of us were disappointed when we failed to experience the much-heralded “white Christmas” a couple of weeks ago. Almost without fail, we rush to our windows and marvel as the first snowflakes of the season cascade to the ground in all of their feathery whiteness. But then, when we have to drive through an accumulation of snow, or have to drag out the snow shovels to clear our sidewalks and driveways, or after it has hung around for weeks and weeks, turning gray and black on the roadways, our fascination with snow quickly fades.

When highways are clear and dry, it’s a delight to drive along, gazing at the sun glistening in the frozen crystals. But during a snowstorm, when traction is treacherous and our tires want to guide our vehicles in directions we wish not to take, anger and expletives (expressed or not) compete with our sense of wonderment. Snow – love it and hate it.

Recently I was reminded that snow has more uses than just for snowballs, snowmen and snow angels. It also serves as an excellent metaphor for what God desires to do in each of our hearts.

In the Bible, sin is associated with darkness, blackness. It is described as the dirtiest of dirt, the foulest of impurities. This is why, just as blood serves as a purifying agent within the human body, we’re told in the Bible, “the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us from all sin” (1 John 1:7). This analogy is extended to snow in its purest, freshest form: “Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow” (Isaiah 1:18).

Envision a front yard, with large patches devoid of grass. During a rain, the exposed dirt turns to mud, hardly a gardener’s vision of beauty. Yet that same yard, after a new snow, sparkles and shines in the sunlight, with none of the grassless soil underneath anywhere in sight.

In Psalm 51, one of King David’s most beloved psalms of repentance and confession, he offers a similar comparison: “Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow…. Hide you face from my sins and blot out all my iniquity” (Psalm 51:7).

I don’t know about you, but whenever I think about God in His holiness, righteousness and purity, it seems beyond the realm of possibility to imagine standing before Him one day with all of my flaws, warts, failed good intentions – and sins. And yet we’re promised, “Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when he appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. Everyone who has this hope in him purifies himself, just as he is pure” (1 John 3:2-3). Sounds like mission impossible, doesn’t it?

We can’t purify ourselves. There’s no question about that. But through the atoning sacrifice of Christ, His blood shed for us, He provides the necessary and perfect cleansing, making us white as snow – even whiter than snow.

So the next time you see snowflakes blanketing the ground, turning your ordinary-looking yard or street into a proverbial winter wonderland, remember how God is desiring to do that for you – from the inside out. 

Chilling Out . . . While at Work

While many of us are indoors, enjoying picturesque winter scenes
like this in our warm homes, others are out dealing with the elements.

The cold is upon most of us in North America – apparently due to global warming and/or climate change, according to proponents for both. Whatever. One thing is certain: While many of us are bemoaning the subfreezing temperatures, ice, sleet and snow, we’re doing so for the most part in the comforts of our homes or heated, climate-controlled workplaces. “Brrrr!” we declare, gazing out our windows.

That’s why I have great respect and admiration for people that don’t have that option. Like mail carriers who still ascribe to the motto, “Neither rain, nor sleet, nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds." (That, I understand, is the correct wording.) And those who deliver our morning newspapers, although they are a vanishing breed. Unless the roads are really bad, they’re faithfully carrying out their responsibilities.

Many of us can retreat from the cold, but those
entrusted with maintaining vital services cannot.

When disaster strikes and our power goes out, leaving us without electricity and with temperatures steadily dropping between our four walls, or when freezing temps burst water mains, noble utility crews are toiling away despite the elements – cold, wind, frozen precipitation. 

Law enforcement officers, firefighters and emergency workers don’t get “snow days,” and crews charged with clearing our streets to restore safe travel obviously can’t take the day off because of snow and ice.

Hospital staffs must somehow get to work, since sick people don’t suddenly get better when winter storms move in. And news crews must mobilize to keep us updated on the latest weather developments – although I think some of them actually like being on camera with icicles hanging from their noses.

Thinking of the yeoman’s work these people perform, I’m reminded of a passage in the Bible that states, “On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, and the parts that we think are less honorable we treat with special honor…. But God has combined the members of the body and has given greater honor to the parts that lacked it” (1 Corinthians 12:22-26).

During good weather we give little thought to the individuals that carry out no-matter-what-the-weather-is kinds of jobs. In many cases they probably wouldn’t be careers we’d want our children to aspire to, but when needed they become the most important people in our communities.

So I commend them for their diligence and sacrifice to help the rest of us stay comfortable, warm and safe. And the next time it snows or ices over, turning our roads into skating rinks and ski slopes, please know: We appreciate you all!

As White As Snow

Last week we had the most beautiful yard in our neighborhood. Pure, white, picture-perfect. Well, at least our yard was as pretty as anyone else’s. The seven-inch blanket of snow that descended onto our street provided a sparkling covering that concealed weeds, bare spots, aging bushes, rocky soil and other horticultural flaws.

Changed from a landscaper’s nightmare to a winter wonderland, all at the drop of a snowflake.

The Bible offers a similar observation about snow. If we’re honest, we’ll admit our lives also display weeds, decay, and other undesirable qualities. We might regret having them and even try our best to hide them from others. But the all-knowing God sees them. Not only does He know about them, but He also extends the offer to purify us from them. “‘Come now, let us reason together,’ says the Lord. ‘Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow’” (Isaiah 1:18).

There’s one important difference between natural snow and spiritual “snow,” however, as a glance out my window reveals: Most of the snow in our yard has melted; deficiencies again are visible. Although hidden for a time, they were there all the while.

When a person commits his or her life to Jesus Christ, however, their sins are not just covered up, to be unveiled again one day. The Bible talks about complete change, not superficial concealing of faults.

As someone has wisely observed, God loves us just as we are – but loves us too much to leave us that way. Through the working of His Spirit, our journey with Him involves a lifelong process of total transformation. As the Bible assures us, “Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!” (2 Corinthians 5:17).

Teamwork – A Real Snow Job

We’ve been busy shoveling out, like much of the nation. Snow, ranging from six to 10 inches, fell upon the Chattanooga area, the largest accumulation – our friendly meteorologists tell us – since the 24-inch snowfall of 1993.

Other parts of the U.S. have seen much more snow this winter. But for our area, several inches of snow on Christmas Day followed by early Monday’s frosty blanket is more than Southeastern Tennessee folks are used to.

Looking at the snow is fun. Shoveling it, as well as driving in it on our hilly terrain, isn’t. But this morning our snowy street provided a classic example of a timely adage: Many hands might light work.

Surveying our ice-encrusted street was daunting, but something had to be done. I had succeeded in driving down it to take my wife to work, but trying to drive back up was another matter. After several attempts, my car got stuck at the bottom.

I spread some rock salt on particularly problematic spots, hoping once the sun came out the ice and snow would melt enough to permit safe passage. Then several neighbors joined me in chipping away the ice and clearing a path for our vehicles. In less than an hour, we had freeze-free tracks opened and I was able to drive my car up the hill and then down our driveway (which I had already cleared) into the garage.

They say workhorses teamed together can pull multiple times what they could pull separately, and we experienced a similar outcome in working shovels in unison to accomplish a common goal. As Ecclesiastes 4:9-12 tells us, “Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their work…. Though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves. A cord of three strands is not quickly broken.”