What I like about snow...

It snowed again yesterday afternoon and evening.  It may snow again Wednesday night into Thursday.  Around here, everyone is saying, "not again!  Enough snow!"  We actually had some fun when the electricity was out for a few days after the ice storm here last week (until I couldn't get warm the second day - a fire in the fireplace just doesn't keep a log house but so warm.)

eating by lantern and candleglight

a little warmth from the fireplace

Even though I hate the cold, I actually like snow, and here's why:

When I look outside and see the snow or the snow and ice covered trees and ground, I am reminded of God's grace.  He is a beautiful Creator.  But even more than enjoying His creation, I am reminded of His grace towards me.  Just like snow will cover the earth and make it beautiful, Jesus covers my sin and the shame from my sin with His blood.  When He covers my sin, He cleanses me and makes me like Him.

a view of the woods on one side of our house

During the snow and ice this past week, I was studying Psalm 51.  This is a psalm that David wrote after he had been confronted by a prophet regarding his sin. Do you know the story?  David, a man known for having a heart like God, had taken another man's wife and slept with her.  When he learned that she was pregnant, he tried to cover it up by having her husband come home from war.  It didn't work, so he had her husband killed in battle to try to cover up his sin.

Like David, there are times when I feel incredible shame for specific sins (especially when I know that it is sin when I do it!)  I don't want anyone to know about those sins, and I want to keep them covered up.  But God knows all of my sins.  Not only does He know them, but He has provided for me by covering them up Himself with the blood of Jesus.

In Psalm 51:7 David writes, "Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow."    David repented of his sin, and God forgave him!  Yes, there were consequences for his sin, but God forgave him and covered his sin making him as white as snow.  Likewise, there are consequences when I sin; but if I trust in Jesus, I can be released from the guilt and shame of my sin.  God covers them with His blood and clothes me in His righteousness.

Whenever it snows outside, I think of Isaiah 1:18: "Come now, let us reason together, says the LORD: though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool."  So even though I hate the cold, I like it when it snows because the snow reminds me that God forgives me of all my sins (even those I don't want anyone to know about.)  It reminds me of His grace.