Snow

I love snow. I love the feel of it on my face and hands and tongue and the look of it in my hair and on my coat and on my scarf. I love staring at it as it falls through the air.

I had some things get cancelled today because of the weather. I can't say that I was happy about anything getting cancelled that did--not even the eight o'clock in the morning class (we were going to be doing Christmas carols. How could I complain about that?). And I'm definitely disappointed about not playing the concert we were going to play tonight.

All the same, it's nice to take a little time out. I spent the morning hanging around my apartment drinking tea and playing guitar and so far this afternoon I meandered around in the snow and now I'm cuddling up drinking more tea trying to warm up. Coincidentally--or--well--not coincidentally, I don't believe in coincidences when it comes to things like this, I was already doing a 24-hour fast, not from food, but from tv, as a way of taking a little more quiet and still time... and now I have the day free and this is becoming a time of much-needed forced rest and reflection.

So, I turned down an offer of a ride home saying that I rather looked forward to the idea of walking home in the snow. I meant it, and I enjoyed it. I got quite carried away in my enthusiasm and took about twenty pictures of various things I walk past every day without thinking about them. And that got me thinking. I was excited about how beautiful these ordinary things were because of the transformative power of snow. That transformation is not unlike what God does, with people and events and everything really. He takes the ordinary or the ugly or the broken and covers it with His attributes to become extraordinary and beautiful and pure. When He looks at the souls of His redeemed He sees the snow-white version, all the imperfections obliterated by His grace.

Thank God for snow--and quiet--and grace.