December 22 marks the first day of winter. We don’t have a long winter in Texas, and rarely a snow, but there is something rather serene and peaceful about snow. It is as though time stops, all gets very quiet, still, traffic stops, and at times I have thought that perhaps God wanted us to stop, just for awhile, to take a look at His magnificent creation. Snow……. If you have ever looked at snowflakes closely, you will find that no two are alike, but beyond that, they are the most transparent, fragile and delicate of God’s creation. Beautiful!
“While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease.” Genesis 8:22
“She is not afraid of the snow for her household: for all her household are clothed with scarlet.” Proverbs 31:21
“Be still, and know that I Am God: I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth.” Psalms 46:10
God created man in His image, and above all that He created, man was His greatest creation. We are unique to Him. No other creation that He made can ever compare to mankind.
“And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.” Genesis 2:7
“What is man that Thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him? For Thou has made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honour. Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of Thy hands: Thou hast put all things under his feet: All sheep and oxen, yea, and the beasts of the field; the fowl of the air, and the fish of the sea, and whatsoever passeth through the paths of the seas. O Lord, our Lord, how excellent is Thy name in all the earth! Psalms 8:4-9
…and then there are occasions we will get an ice storm, and though not pleasant, when the storm passes, and the warmth of the sun returns, it is a glorious sight. Every tree glistens and shines through the transparency of the ice. I think then of how much like an ice storm our lives are during the saddest parts of our lives. The storm comes, freezes us, all is sadness, and our hearts feel as though they will never heal, but God is there in the storm, we just couldn’t see for the tears that clouded our eyes. Hope fills our hearts again, and it is then that we realize He was there all of the time, to lift our head, heal our hearts, and makes us smile again. Hope is restored.
“For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.” Hebrews 4:15
“God tempers the cold wind to the shorn lamb.”
“Still, as the dusk creeps over the ridgeline, I carry my rods and tackle to the edge of the pond. The day, another day, will end in disappointment.
But sometimes it also ends in fireflies.” ~ Rick Bragg
Eileen Light