“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.” Isaiah 1:18 NKJV
“Are you washed in the blood,
In the soul cleansing blood of the Lamb?
Are your garments spotless?
Are they white as snow?
Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb?” E.A. Hoffman 1878
When Megan and I lived on West 43rd in New York City in the mid-2000’s, I remember how excited we were when the first snowfall occurred. The city received a beautiful blanket of white, freshly fallen snow that covered the streets and all the ugliness that are a part of the city. There were very few cars moving and the streets became large sidewalks, easy to navigate. The city became more quiet. People spoke to one another and looked out for one another. There was a calm and peace that invaded the normally hectic environment of the city.
As the snow began to melt, the beautiful white covering gave way to gray sludge and torrents of water running down the streets and into the city’s sewers. At the same time large and often several inches deep puddles formed, making navigating difficult. And as the melting occurred the noise, the hectic activity and the cold of the large city returned. Typically the residents would have to carry shoes with them to work as they wore rubber boots to push back against the wet and dirty of the melt.
I write this because we have been blessed with an unusually large East TN snowstorm and bitter cold that has caused the area to come to a halt for days. Today the temperature is forecast to be in the upper 30’s and the inevitable melt will begin. Only to have a second blast of Arctic air coming that will cause hard freezes again. There is an old saying that goes ‘you can’t control the weather.’ Truth!
So much like the saying that we cannot control the weather, life takes on a more simplistic understanding and joyful acceptance if we acknowledge that we cannot control what happens in our lives, only how we respond. I read a great book years ago and one of many epiphanies that came out was that while we cannot control what happens, we can control how we respond. The theme was replacing a “he/she made me mad” mentality with a “only I can allow someone to make me mad.” The control comes in the response to what is uncontrollable.
“But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.” 1 John 1:7 ESV
So I write about the snow that came and beautifully blanketed, that will melt and take on the form of water. The melt creates flooding, that causes erosion, mud and returns the landscape as it looked before. The same snow, now water, now likely flooding and causing issues is still the life-sustaining fluid that we are all dependent upon, beautiful in the form of white, pure snow now liquified. Water in whatever form is God’s provision for our life’s health.
“For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return there but water the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater,”. Isaiah 55:10 ESV
There is a life parallel to the observation of snow and one’s life. We tenaciously pursue what we are passionate about and high-five ourselves and others when we achieve what was pursued. Then as the achievement ages, there is a tendency to discount the achievement and allow cracks to occur. The pursuit and achievement becomes tarnished with age and the memory more foggy. Oftentimes the memory focuses solely on the negatives of the pursuit instead of the life sustaining impact of the achievement.
There are professions that require ongoing education and learning. I have accountant, medical doctor, engineering, etc., friends that must take a certain number of hours of education each year to maintain their certifications. They are perpetual learners. While many of them struggle in their assigned profession, few to any fail. The profession is sustained by being fed and the individual empowered by the knowledge gained.
So today my encouragement to you is to commit to being a perpetual learner in Christ. Recognize that while there may be seasons of beautiful white in your life, God is also in the gray sludge of melting. That he provides and controls in all seasons and situations. Find the beauty of a life sold out to Jesus by understanding that the joy is in the journey, not some self created achievement. We serve a perpetual God, who simply asks us to perpetually trust and walk with him in every season and situation of life. Commit to become a professional Christ follower. The greatest life-sustaining food you will ever ingest is found in the pages of God’s life letters, the Bible, written specifically for his kids.
“Like the cold of snow in the time of harvest is a faithful messenger to those who send him; he refreshes the soul of his masters.” Proverbs 25:13 ESV
You’ve got this. He has you!