Snow as a gift

The sadness of not being perfect, the discovery that you really are sinful, is a feeling much too human, even borders on idolatry. Focus your vision outside yourself on the beauty, graciousness, and compassion of Jesus Christ. ... A heart like that is stripped and filled stripped of self and filled with the fullness of God.

But holiness is not a personal achievement. It's an emptiness you discover in yourself. Instead of resenting it, you accept it and it becomes the free space where the Lord can create anew.

You are no longer aware of yourself, like the sparrow aloft and free in the azure sky.

~Francis of Assisi

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Be prepared for a good dose of nostalgia/sentimentality:

The snow enchants me.
...walking absentmindedly across the quad, kicking the snow as if were an empty coke can or as if I were dragging my toes through the freshly damp sand
...unable to will myself to move inside, into the warmth, away from the frostbite grabbing hold of my finger, wrapped around an empty teacup...snowflakes coating the inside, infusing the Earl Grey leaves with a touch of white water
...walking over puddles of ice, stomping on them carelessly, without reverence
...staring straight up at the snowflakes hitting my glasses lenses like the rain drops feel on the day when the old man was snoring

In pure wonder. Suddenly, at least for a moment, my sorrow was lifted; released into the torrential down fall of unexpressed, unfulfilled deep-seated dreams and desires.
It was a gift; a grace. Given unexpectedly, un-asked for--like all gifts should be, if they possibly can.

...snow freezing upon each hair follicle
...the lamplight and purple Houghton college logos dusted, as if an afterthought...by glittering, suspended-in-gravity flakes
...as God's angels faithfully pelt snow down from the stores of the heavens, perhaps sprinkling it upon the earth as we venture to drench Christmas-tree shaped cookies with red and green

As I think on these things,
I feel courage.
I feel Love.