SubscribeA perspective on snow
The tiny flakes of snow fell with unrelenting patience. By mid-day Saturday, their persistent free fall coated everything in thick, sparkly mounds of white.
“It’s gorgeous,” gushed my sister who is visiting from Savannah. “I’ve never seen so much snow.”
“I’m sick of it,” groused my husband who grimaces at the sight of winter’s first snowflake and longs for warmer climes. “It’s time to go.”
They stood at the living room window each looking at the same winter picture, and each seeing something different. One stood absorbing the beauty before her and watching as the snow continued to layer on more and more icy inches. The other stood shaking his head at the work that awaited him and dreading having to shovel away the remnants of the Washington area’s Blizzard of 2010 –some 25 inches in our front yard alone. The back yard seemed to have more.
Two other heavy snowfalls have already visited us this season, and another snow storm is one the way. If you are only looking ahead at the hardship, you’ll miss the chance to revel in the grace that snow brings our way every now and then. What you do with this gift is up to you. Weather- related inconveniences pause our fast-paced lives, and we can either find the goodness in a snow day or complain. (There’s plenty of time for that when the snow starts to melt and the magic is washed away.)
I happen to love snow, am enchanted by it, particularly now that I don’t have to worry about getting out in it to go to work or fretting about whether the schools will be open. Freshly fallen snow is beautiful in its simplicity. I find solace in its quiet presence, and I heed the call of the silence to meditate. I am intrigued by how the tiny flakes join together to form such a sturdy blanket, and I stare in reverence at the way snow frames tree branches.
Snow’s beauty is fleeting. We only have a short while to marvel at it before its enchantment fades and reality intrudes, before its purity is soiled by the dirt of our desire to move on, to work, to play. So I choose to look at snow as God’s gift to us to slow us down and look at our old landscape with new eyes.
It’s a matter of perspective. Take a few moments to savor the snow’s beauty before shoveling.
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