It snowed last night. Snow is a curse. Snow is evil. Snow is what happens when the atmosphere solidifies and falls on your head. Snow is Chicken Little’s justification. Snow falls from the heavens and smothers the earth. It is cold, wet, and slippery.

There is no upside to walking in snow. It gets in your shoes and up your pant legs.
Its main purpose on cement is to disguise the ice. Ice is snows evil twin. Those foolish enough to walk out in snow are sure to get too cocky and believe that walking from your front door to your car because, I don’t know, you have a life and actually have to go to work, is going to be as safe as yesterday’s walk was when it didn’t snow.

This lasts until the first step on your top step and you slip on the ice and go down hard. Usually this results in a broken wrist, cracked head or broken tailbone. How about that? An atmospheric phenomenon destined to cause you to slip to the ground. Don’t talk to me about the upside of snow. I don’t want to hear about skiing and snowboarding. Skiing is harnessed slipping. Because you slip on snow we as humans decided to try and contain it.

Mountain owning entrepreneurs were even more enterprising. If you come to my mountain and slip on the snow, I’m going to charge you. Anyone who slips on purpose deserves a capitalist to, well, capitalize on your ignorance. Don’t tell me snow is beautiful. Flowers are beautiful, the sky is beautiful, and mountain ranges are beautiful. During a snowstorm, mountains and the sky become undecipherable and the snow kills the colorful vegetation.

Snow is white. White isn’t beautiful. White is a non-color. The bible said before creation everything was dark. Darkness is white without the sun. White is essentially colorless, it’s clear. No one finds beauty in clear. No one pines over the stunning color of Vaseline.

White is the color of a sheet of paper or a fresh canvas. The beauty isn’t in the lack of color it’s the potential that color is coming. We are going to paint color onto the blankness and reveal beauty. White lies on the ground and reminds us that one-day grass and flowers will return and beauty will reign.
Early man didn’t know snow was coming because it’s a result of the fall. That’s why we say that snow is falling.

The original snow angels were early humans collapsing in the snow and in their death throes they began thrashing around. People found them later, saw the angel shape in the snow and figured angels were laying on them trying to warm them up. Snow is like pain. Its value is in teaching us that someday it will be gone. Someday a bright blue sky and warm sun will return. Green grass and trees, flowers and birds are just around the corner.

We endure snow because we have no option, but we trust God that the new season is coming. We thank Him for snow because we know we are in His care even in dire circumstances. Snow is an object lesson in trudging through the worst of the journey in the firm belief there is a lodge waiting on the other side with a warm fire, a robe and slippers and some hot cider.

This is what I think of snow. Not that I am poetic but instead I find myself freezing in the driveway shoveling it so we can go to church. This is a Christian’s version of pragmatism. If whining about snow is a sin, by turning it into a devotional I get paid and seem spiritual at the same time. How about that, snow does have an upside!