It fills me with a sense of wonder every single time. Quiet, soft, fluffy rain - snow just amazes me. I love anticipate it and to watch it fall. The way it just floats down, as if it's defying gravity, the way it lands and lingers. I love looking in all directions and seeing a blanket of white over everything.
When I went to bed this morning the forecast called for heavy snow showers later on, so I curled under the covers with a sense of expectancy of what it would look like when I woke up. I almost slept for 4 hours, all was quiet in the house, except for some snoring at my right. I'm not sure what woke me up. Usually it's one or two dogs whining outside my bedroom door because they can't read time and think it's dinnertime. But not today, hubby (the snoring one) made a an awesome barricade in the hallway and the dogs had not bridged it, yet. I tried to go back to sleep, tossed and turned, but then I thought of the snow that might have fallen and it was game over for sleepytime.
I grabbed my phone and peeked out the bathroom window. I giggled to myself, and snapped a photo.
The word for today's photo challenge is "wonder". And I was wondering before going to sleep what would the "lesson of the day" be. I've been wondering that everyday actually. I try not to look at the word of the day until that morning and so far for 7 days in a row God has put together a personalized multi-sensory learning plan just for me :) It reminds me of lesson plans and unit studies I did with the kiddos when we home schooled, every day God came through and and WE learned from Him together no matter what the subject or the focus was. He still is a Teacher.
So it was no surprise when the snow and the wonder fit perfectly, today. Sometimes I take these coincidences for granted or I don't meditate enough on them. Each one is a gift made especially for me and where I am at. He knows my heart and I think He takes pleasure in making me smile, and I truly think He has a sense of humor, we share inside jokes all the time, especially word puns.
As I am wonder-struck about the winter wonderland just outside my window, and wondering about the meaning of the word wonder, a song pops into my head. It's one of those I love to hear and sing loudly (if a little off key) at church... "Jesus paid it all, all to Him I owe. Sin had left a crimson stain, he washed it white as snow". I can hear it clearly in my head.
I go to the kitchen to start a pot of coffee and right above the sink is this:
So it was no surprise when the snow and the wonder fit perfectly, today. Sometimes I take these coincidences for granted or I don't meditate enough on them. Each one is a gift made especially for me and where I am at. He knows my heart and I think He takes pleasure in making me smile, and I truly think He has a sense of humor, we share inside jokes all the time, especially word puns.
As I am wonder-struck about the winter wonderland just outside my window, and wondering about the meaning of the word wonder, a song pops into my head. It's one of those I love to hear and sing loudly (if a little off key) at church... "Jesus paid it all, all to Him I owe. Sin had left a crimson stain, he washed it white as snow". I can hear it clearly in my head.
I go to the kitchen to start a pot of coffee and right above the sink is this:
Sin had left a crimson stain, He washed it white as snow." -original lyrics by Elvina M. Hall, 1865
perfect, huh?
I know what is under that snow, a neglected winter backyard full of pine needles and leaves and,... dog poop. But the snow has covered all of that ugliness and everywhere I look is a blanket of pure white.
Isn't that exactly what Jesus did for me? Covered all my ugliness and sin, paid a ransom for my freedom with his blood. He did it once and for all. It's a done deal. I am covered by His sacrifice and He sees me pure and blameless and wants me to receive that perfect forgiveness and own it, and live like it.
And now that I've fed the furry creatures to stop them from making so much noise, of course they want to go outside. But I don't want them to. They are going to mess up that perfect white carpet of pure fluffiness!
But they have to go, so I let them. And the first thing all three of them do is run to the snow and attack it with their teeth and bite it, and eat it, and run, and wag their tails. They love it and enjoy fresh snow almost as much as I do, except I leave the making of yellow snow to them.
And it gets me thinking, what good is all this white snow of righteousness I am covered with, if I don't enjoy and delight in it and go out there and in a way "mess it up". Life is messy and God says His mercies are new every morning, or in my case every time I take a nap ;)
"The faithful love of the Lord never ends!
His mercies never cease. Great is his faithfulness;
his mercies begin afresh each morning." Lamentations 3:22-23
Jesus' sacrifice was done for everyone who chooses to believe in His perfect love. It was done once and for all. But I can, and I should, and I definitely need His mercy every single day. Every day i mess up the pretty snow, so I know I need His blanket of perfect whiteness over me more that I need to see the beauty of the snow falling.
“Come now, let’s settle this,” says the Lord.
“Though your sins are like scarlet,
I will make them as white as snow.
Though they are red like crimson,
I will make them as white as wool."
Isaiah 1:18 New Living Translation (NLT)
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