My Diatribe on Winter....

OK! I've already had enough of this snow and cold stuff. Bring on the Spring! Herewith, tongue firmly planted in cheek, my viewpoint on winter (I refuse to capitalize such a blight upon mankind!).

This is what got me started. Here's an excerpt from Bob Hoke's notice of cancellation for the Youth Group because of snow:

I love the snow,in part because of what the scriptures say about it "Though your sins be as scarlet (The reddest red there is) they shall be made as white as snow...

I don't care for snow as much as some 'other' Pastors do......with that admission, I'd like to bring up another Scriptural association with the word 'snow': Exodus 4:6 The Lord furthermore said to him, “Now put your hand into your bosom.” So he put his hand into his bosom, and when he took it out, behold, his hand was leprous like snow.

So we can all see that snow can have a number of connotations. If it is nothing more than a metaphor, then it might be good. If it has a physical aspect to it (much like this cursed stuff that falls from the skies in the winter), then it can be bad.....very bad.

I personally believe that God put the Garden in a warm climate because it was ideal for the man he designed. It wasn't until the fall that man left the garden and foolishly began a slow migration to the North, coinciding with an increasingly diminished mental capacity (as is evidenced by the current popularity of Crocs).

If man was meant to live in snow, he would have been born with a fleece instead of skin. Praise God He's given us Hawaiian shirts to cover up with!

Be that as it may, here we are in Virginia and it's snowing. This has all been preceded by the 'Fall', a euphemism that should have warned us of what was to come. Sure, it's pretty and all. But those leaves that turn into such brilliant colors hold a dark and deadly secret. The false and empty promise of color and vibrancy and life is short lived. Just about the time you are enchanted with the crisp feel of the air and the magnificent colors of the trees; seduced by their beauty and given over to their allure (much like sin....do you see the resemblance?), they turn brown and brittle and begin to blow away in an amazing transformation that rivals that of the villains at the end of 'The Raiders of the Lost Ark'.

All the beautiful colors of the Autumn are washed away, covered over by a thick coating of dull browns and muted grays. Birds (more intelligent than most people think) flee to the South, gophers burrow deep into the bowels of the Earth, bears hibernate, all of God's creation labors to maintain some semblance of warmth and sanity.

Not man.

In an amazing imitation of the Irish Rovers 'Don't You Forget My Unicorn', man is out playing.....like the Unicorns of the song....in the rain only, in this case, the play is in something far more insidious.

Then it comes.......unexpected and silent, it begins to fall from the sky. At first, it's difficult to notice. A random flake here and there, reflecting the light and twinkling in much the same manner as fool's gold. Then there are more....and then more... and soon, a silent covering of mutated water vapor covers the entire earth, smothering out most life forms and cruelly, diabolically freezing those remaining creatures with the wherewithal to survive the weight of heavy laden crystals of destruction.

Sure it's pretty and beautiful when freshly fallen....for about 15 minutes! It doesn't take long for most sane people to realize why the Indian word for snow is 'chinguchcook' or 'White Blanket of Death'.

The earth goes into suspended animation, a comatose state, as if in silent resignation to the virus that has spread out over its' entire surface, transforming it and everything on it into a hideous caricature of what it once was.

Things remain in this, dare I say it.....fallen state... until something wonderful happens. A solitary sprout, a lone bud at the end of a craggy, barren tree branch, a crack in the icy veneer of a quiet country pond.......Spring is coming!

This time the promise bears fruit! The world awakens and life rises, Lazarus-like from the icy tomb of Winter. The birds return, the gophers come to the surface and the bears begin to stir. Green erupts everywhere and the warm rays of the sun loosen the frozen grip of long bony fingers of winter.

All this, a perfect reflection of redemption and new life. I can hardly wait for Spring!