Whiter Than Snow

I used to love snow as a child. My excitement would surface with the sight of the first snowflake, and I would watch and wait with the happy anticipation that school would be canceled the next day. Snow days meant building snowmen, sledding, participating in snowball fights, sliding around on the ice, creating snow angels, making snow ice cream and then drinking hot chocolate with marshmallows when Mom called me back inside. Those were happy days.

As a young adult, I became a mother and watched my own kids have fun doing all the same things that I had done as a child. I loved it at first. However, as the kids grew older, and I became busier, I got tired of the mess that came with the snow. After years of wiping up the wet floors and washing and drying loads of wet and muddy coats, snow pants and clothing, “playing in the snow” didn’t seem that fun to me anymore.

I have grown to dread winter more and more with every passing year. I still detest the mess it makes on my floor. I don’t like when my kids have to drive 70-100 miles on slick roads to get to college. And now that I’m older, my body just can’t tolerate the frigid wind and freezing temperatures anymore. While I used to get excited at the first snow flake of the season, I now get cranky at the mention of the “s” word.

I dread it. I detest it. I complain about it. Yet, as much as I hate to admit this, something strange and unexpected happens to my grumpy attitude when I look outside my window and see that first big snowfall of the year. As I survey my surroundings, the world seems so quiet and still. Surprisingly, I experience a feeling of peace. I forget about the impending mess, the danger of the icy roads and even the chill in my frozen, old bones. The depressing brown landscape and the weeds that had overtaken the yard by the end of summer are hidden beneath the glittery white blanket. Everything is fresh and white. It reminds me of something David wrote,

Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. (Psalm 51:7)

By the grace of God and the blood of Jesus, we can be washed whiter than snow, no matter what we’ve done. You see, God created everything, and He created man in His image. All was good until we humans sinned by deciding to do things our way instead of God’s. (Adam and Eve ate from the tree that God told them not to eat from). God is holy, and sin separates us from God. The penalty for sin is death; all sinners are doomed. The wonderful news is that God sent His Son, Jesus, to provide a way for us to be made right with God again. Jesus became God in the flesh, lived here on earth and was tempted in every way just like we are, but Jesus never gave in to those temptations. He lived a perfect life without sin so that He could take the death penalty for us. He died on the cross in our place and rose from the dead, conquering sin and death. If we accept His gift of salvation and commit our lives to following Him, our slate is wiped clean. We can stand before God because we have accepted the gift of salvation through Jesus, and that is great news.

So sometimes, I suppose the snow can be a good thing as it draws me into the stillness of the world and causes me to reflect on what Jesus has done for me. It is a humble reminder in my grouchiness that I was bought with a price and that the power of his cleansing blood washes me whiter than snow.

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