The Weather Outside is Frightful

It is snowing outside as I write. I like snow. I like it even though it is dangerous to drive on, even though it is slick to walk on, even though it requires shoveling and scraping and makes my hands feel like wood. I am not sure why I like it so much. My daughter likes it because each flake is unique and beautiful in its own right. But I don't often take the time to look at individual flakes. I think it is because it covers my world in a white blanket. It makes the world quiet and a little softer. It also covers it in a single color. It take winter to make me ready to appreciate the single color of white. In the summer there are few things more beautiful than the green of a fairway on a cloudless day with the sky as blue as the ocean. Autumn brings a tapestry of colors that delights and surprises me every year. Winter comes and slowly turns the world brown. The leaves drop and the grass turns rusty and grey clouds cover the blue sky. But then the snow comes and the earth itself seems to pull the snow up to its chin like a quilt. Like most things in my life, the snow makes me think of Jesus. When the snow drapes itself over the brown world I think of forgiveness. "Though your sins be as scarlet they shall be made white as snow" the prophet shouts. And so they are. My life all muddy and brown is made white and clean by the Son who loves me and shines brightest right here in the winter months. So, while the weather outside is frightful, the love of Jesus makes the weather in my soul better than ever.