Snow Day

Today is a snow day.
Snow day!
Even the words conjure up wonderful memories.

Say snow day and your mind will have a brain storming session.
Hot chocolate, fire roaring in the fireplace, making a snowman, sledding.
What child doesn’t love a snow day, at any age?

I remember a big hill near my house when I was a girl.
Bundled up to the point of being unable to walk, we walked with our sleds.
The hill was dotted with others who were unable to walk; yet it didn’t stop us!

There were the brave boys that would run with their sleds out in front of them.
After a running start, they jumped on their sled and pointed their nose toward the bottom.
Don’t sled head first, my mother warned, Feet first!

I wouldn’t have been as brave as those boys anyway.
Feet first allowed many people to go down on one sled, especially if it was a toboggan.
Usually before the bottom of the hill, the sled would topple over.

Bodies, wrapped much too tightly in warm outerwear, tumbled to the ground.
Hysterical laughter and challenges calling out to sled down the hill again!
Mittens, scarves, and hats, like Hansel and Gretel’s breadcrumbs, were scattered.

Everyone wanted to be the first one to make tracks in the snow.
There is something so pristine, so pure, and so enticing about freshly fallen snow.
To walk where no one has gone before; to leave your mark as if to say, I was here.

After hours of sledding, the tracks were muddy lines in the snow.
Bare spaces where dirt and grass showed through spotted the hillside.
There was no traction in the bare spots; your sled would often get stuck.

Going downhill was not so easy when the snow was worn away.
There would be a few diehards that stayed until the last possible moment.
Most of us left when we could no longer feel our fingers and toes!

There is something so peaceful about falling snow.
I love to stand outside and hear the deafening silence.
Silence that goes down deep, penetrates the heart, and stills the soul.

Silence that allows you to witness the majesty of God.
Silence that heightens your senses so you see the uniqueness of each snowflake.
Silence that loudly proclaims that you are alive!

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

Only God can cleanse us like that.
Only God can keep the snow pristine, pure, and free of muddy tracks.
Only God.

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)

Coming to God the Father through His Son, Jesus Christ.
Coming to God the Father with our muddy sin.
Struggling because the muddy tracks of our sin keep getting us stuck.

No traction.
We are bundled up in the clothes of the world; unable to move freely.
Pieces of our worldly clothing litter the path.

We carry our sled; we are positioned for a running start.
What looms in front of us is mud.
We have no where to go.

Feet first, we hear in our hearts.
Feet first, so you can stand.

In that moment, we don’t want the mud.
We want the clean snow.
We want pure, pristine snow with no footprints to mar the beauty.

Suddenly, we see the exquisite snowflakes falling around us.
We are washed in a blanket of clean snow.
The mud is slowly being covered over, one snowflake at a time.

There are no footprints.
The tracks have been removed, with not even a hint of remembrance.
Washed clean as the snow that is before us.

We see the majesty of God.
Our senses are magnified so we can see the uniqueness of each snowflake.
Our heart testifies, our heart proclaims, I am alive!

Alive like never before!
Alive with a new path before us!
Alive with a running start!

Alive!
I was here!
The great I AM washed me clean!

Let it snow!