Salvation Walk

There is beauty in a winter landscape.
There is beauty even when your heart is hoping for spring.
There is beauty even when the daffodils are covered with snow.
There is beauty even when the grass that was clearly seen a few days before is now hidden.

After another snowfall, I needed to walk.
I miss my walk when the weather keeps me inside.
What is usually my prayer time, was simply a time of amazement this day.
The views that I see every morning were breathtaking.

It is easy to tell the houses where young children live.
Footprints were all over the snow.
One house had the beginning of a snowman that never got finished.
To see a snowman with a base and a torso but no head was a bit disconcerting.

Maybe the snowman builders got called to dinner.
Maybe the wet snow was a bit too heavy to lift the head onto the body.
Any house that had a bird feeder had many hungry birds enjoying the feast.
The sky was a brilliant blue with no clouds to be found.

As I walked up the hill and was ready to round the corner, I noticed the snow.
What had been so white and so clean was dirty.
There were cinders from the road and mud from where the snow plow drove over the grass.
I could see the large tire track that the plow made.

It is difficult to see where the road ends and the grass begins.
Some people have orange sticks in their grass along the road for just this reason.
Without the orange sticks, the plow driver simply has to guess.
I can imagine what this large tire track will look like when the snow melts.

The snow was so dirty.
The combination of the wet snow and the heavy tire made mud.
That mud was splattered all over the white snow.
There is nothing anyone can do about it until the spring thaw.

I looked at the dirty snow and thought of myself before I came to Christ.
My sin looked like that mud, debris, and cinders.
Before Christ, we think we are just fine.
However, next to His holiness and His purity, we are dirty.

Jesus knows that.
Jesus sees the mud, debris, and cinders of our sin.
All of our sin was placed upon Jesus on the cross.
Jesus became the mud, debris, and cinders in our place, so we could be clean.

“Come now, let us reason together,” says the LORD. “Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow…” (Isaiah 1:18)

I saw the tire track from the plow and I saw the mud.
I saw the clean white snow right next to the dirty snow.
I saw a picture of what Jesus did for me on the cross.
I saw myself as God sees me: clean and forgiven.

I went a little further on my walk.
The heavy snow was still on quite a few tree branches.
I recognized the bamboo plants that line a fence.
They are usually tall with a wild look to them.

This day the branches were heavy laden.
This day the branches were leaning over touching the ground.
As I looked at the branches, it was as if they were bowed down in worship.
The day was so beautiful, it seemed appropriate.

Let the heavens be glad, and let the earth rejoice; let the sea roar, and all that fills it; let the field exult, and everything in it! Then shall all the trees of the forest sing for joy.
(Psalm 96:11,12)

The trees were bowing down in worship.
The birds feeding at the bird feeder seemed to be singing His song.
The brilliant blue sky appeared to have His name written across it.
Nature shouted His praise in the stillness of the morning.

It was right that I saw the tire track of the plow first.
It was right that I saw the mud, debris, and cinders.
It was right that I saw the trees bowing down.
It was right, the order of things.

We realize that all we have to offer Him is our sin.
All we have to offer is all He ever wanted in the first place.
When we come to Him, helpless and dirty, He will make us clean.
Our sin has been nailed to the cross and in its place we receive His righteousness.

The snow will melt.
Spring will come and with it, new life.
It is the same for us.
When we come to Jesus in faith, knowing that only He can make us clean, we have new life.

The mud, debris, and cinders of our sin is gone.
In its place, there is only the clean, white snow of forgiveness.
All we can do in response to such love is bow down and worship Him.
All we have to offer Him is all He ever wanted.

We are clean.
We are forgiven.
We are as white as snow.
What a beautiful salvation walk I had on a snowy morning.

2 responses to “Salvation Walk”

1. Oh Gina, this was beautiful. I know God gives you eyes to see and a heart to translate what you see into a wonderful story. You are such an inspiration to me!

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   • Thank you for your sweet encouragement, Sue.
     You cannot imagine how much it means to me.
     Gina

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