As I walked out to my car this morning, I breathed in the cold air but it somehow smelled like spring was coming. Well, not smelled so much as felt. Something about the air just felt like spring was on its way. The sun was shining so brightly and the sky was a solid bright blue, and there were even birds flying in the air. Great start to the day. When I reached my car, I realized there was a layer of frost on my windshield… but it actually wasn’t frost as it wasn’t frozen and I didn’t need to scrape it off. It was a delicate scattering of snowflakes which hadn’t melted because my windshield was still cold enough to prolong their existence.
Before I used my wipers to obliterate that fragile work of art from my windshield, I had to get out of my car and just stare at the scene for a bit, examining those snowflakes so intricately formed and resting on the glass. It was amazing and beautiful and I wish I could paint something like that on an accent wall or something. Just gorgeous. I realized that what was particularly striking and holding my attention was the easily discernable detail of each snowflake, their angles and shapes and frosted tips and edges. Each one was breathtaking and distinguished, but all of them together… wow. I mean, check out that photo.
I am aware that the term “snowflake” has become politically charged, but if you are familiar with my blog, you will know that I don’t get too crazy about anything in that arena. I have a much more important message to share. One that tells us that we are loved, we are so very important, and we have a Savior waiting with wide open arms… regardless of who, what, or where we happen to be.
This is speculation, but I wonder if one of the reasons God designs snowflakes to be so absolutely unique, beautiful and captivating is to provide a metaphor for the care He takes with each one of us. Snow is transient, at least in western NY. Sometimes it seems to last forever, I know, but in actuality none of it remains at the onset of the summer months. The beauty of each and every snowflake is fleeting – its time on earth is brief. Some don’t even reach the ground before melting into soft drops of rain, others quickly melt as they fall on the warm earth or a wet tongue, and some remain for a longer time – working together to create a beautiful white landscape which will, in time, also fade away. Yet the beauty and care invested in the design of each one is overwhelming.
We as humans are transient and delicate, as well, though on average not quite to the extent as snowflakes are around these parts. Our time on earth is short, but that does not at all take away from the care God has taken to design each one of us, or the importance He places on our lives. Jeremiah 1:5 begins with the Lord saying, “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart.” Psalm 139:13-16 is where David says to the Lord, “For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well. My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth.”
Just as He does with snowflakes, God has made you so beautifully and perfectly you. Our beauty is in our uniqueness. If we all looked, thought, and acted the same way, it would be like taking a glorious, world-wide orchestra and replacing it with 7 billion trombones. Trombones are great, but who needs or wants all the instruments to be the same? We would lose so much of the music, the auditory beauty, the harmony if that were the case. I believe the Lord takes delight in our uniqueness, even as we draw closer to Him and try to align with the way He lived on earth. We still have our personalities, insights, and preferences that set us apart. And I think the Lord loves that. His human orchestra playing His praise in thoughts, words, and actions.
The Lord is a God of details, don’t you see? He cares for even the smallest of your concerns and the most intricate of details in your life. He doesn’t just think “big picture;” He also knows and provides for the small stuff, and even His timing shows how intentionally He plans the details. He can handle all of our problems, worries and fears in ways which none of us are able to on our own. Matthew 6:26-34 reminds us that the Lord provides for the birds of the air and the lilies of the field, and that we are of so much more value to Him than they are! Whatever we’re going through or struggling with, the Lord is there with us. He will not leave or forsake us, and He wants us to come to Him about even the “little stuff” in our lives. To surrender it all to His wisdom and care. To trust Him not only with the big stuff when we have to, but with even the details because we want to. I mean, look what He can do with snowflakes. He can make our lives just as beautiful as He intricately works out the details as we turn them over to Him.
Romans 12:6 begins with “We have different gifts, according to the grace given to each of us.” The Lord bestows His gifts and blessings on whomever He chooses. We do not earn them. It is not about us. In fact, I have several friends who are not yet saved, but have clearly been so blessed by the Father they do not yet know. These things point us to Him, give us a glimpse of His goodness, and remind us of the longing we have deep inside for something much more than our sinful human existence in this fallen world.
As believers, we are all part of the body of Christ – we are of the same God and the same Spirit. And our differences should not tear us apart! We can lovingly hold one another accountable, and we can also look at our own selves and reflect on whether an issue we are perceiving is really more our own than someone else’s. God delights in our diversity. As Paul was writing on how we are all unique parts of the body, he admonished us to appreciate our roles and to appreciate those of others as well. 1 Corinthians 12:15-27 says,
“Now if the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason stop being part of the body. And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason stop being part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? But in fact God has placed the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be. If they were all one part, where would the body be? As it is, there are many parts, but one body.
The eye cannot say to the hand, “I don’t need you!” And the head cannot say to the feet, “I don’t need you!” On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, and the parts that we think are less honorable we treat with special honor. And the parts that are unpresentable are treated with special modesty, while our presentable parts need no special treatment. But God has put the body together, giving greater honor to the parts that lacked it, so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other. If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it.
Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.”
We all belong. Every one of us. And we ought to have equal concern for one another, as Paul stated. Some of us don’t really believe it yet, and some feel as if they are not invited because of the way they have been treated by Christians. But here’s the thing that us Bible-toting believers, however well-intentioned, need to remember: None of us deserves to belong. Not one. And yet the Lord invites us all. Who are we to turn someone else away, to ask them to come back only after they’re all shined and polished and “good enough?” Good enough doesn’t exist, friends! It is only by the grace of Jesus that any of us are able to be called sons and daughters of the God Most High.
So, fellow snowflakes, let’s embrace the way God made us, let’s celebrate with others as they rejoice in their uniqueness, and refrain from judgment, pride, or spiritual arrogance. Those things have no place in us. We may have different edges and shapes and sizes and textures, but in the end we are all snow. And that is gift enough. We each need the same saving grace as the next person, and we each have a purpose for the short time we are here. Let’s embrace that and give God the glory!
Romans 12:2, HLC
sacred strokes 