I do not understand people who love snow.
I do not understand why snow is considered beautiful.
Snow covers beauty. It smothers and freezes and kills.
God created a beautiful earth.
Because of our sin, the earth was cursed with a flood that consequentially messed up Earth's perfect atmosphere. And thus the Earth has ever since been put under stress by extreme heat and cold.
I believe there was no snow before the flood.
I believe snow is part of the curse.
How is that beautiful, I ask?
Snow is cold ... as cold as a broken heart, cracking the warmest sparks of hope.
Beauty is not cold.
Beauty is warm.
Beauty isn't what's on top ... it's what is real, what lies underneath.
Beauty isn't cruel.
Beauty doesn't freeze your fingers.
Beauty doesn't kill you.
Yeah, snow will kill you.
But ... I guess something about us humans, is we do find beauty in the oddest of places.
Where we shouldn't.
We find beauty in tears.
We find beauty in death.
We find beauty in heartache.
We sing about it, we write about it, we paint it.
So I guess it's only natural some see beauty in snow?
I'll admit, I completely despise snow.
But when driving to work the other day ... I did see hints of the allure.
Yes, I hate how sometimes I have to cancel work because my car can't make it through the blizzards. And I hate how normally I have to go to work anyways and drive so slow because the road is piled high with snow drifts and I can hardly see twenty feet in front of me. I don't like that where I live there's snow at least nine months of the year.
I hate being cold.
I hate how snow rules my life, just like every other curse we humans must bear since death was given to us.
But ... the other day, I saw the snow sparkle. And there were green trees peeking out from their cold blanket. And the drifts taller than a car was sculptured into pretty waves by the harsh wind (Montana wind is cruel, too). It was like a fairy tale.
All fairy tales are dark, but they have that magic. That hope that someday everything will be good and despite the darkness, maybe even because of the darkness, everyone might live "happily ever after".
I look forward to a day when there is no more snow, where I'm always warm, where the world is perfectly lit by Yahweh's presence.
But for today, I will try to make the best of the life I must live. Maybe snow is a direct result of the curse. Maybe it hinders and annoys me constantly.
But that doesn't mean I can't learn from it. And all learning is beautiful.
Do you love or hate snow? Have you ever been in a blizzard? Have you ever had to drive on icy roads? What makes snow beautiful to you, if you're one of those types of people ;D
I have a love/hate relationship with snow. On one hand, its so beautiful when it sparkles and it reminds me of Christmas(I love Christmas!) But on the other hand.. I really really hate being cold. I really love this though!!
ReplyDeleteLia
Sparkles are pretty; being cold is miserable ;p Thanks!
DeleteThis is so interesting, Keturah. I've never thought about snow as being a direct result of the Fall...I suppose I've always thought of snow as another part of God's creation which is inherently beautiful and good. The inconvenience and suffering it brings is the part of it that's been twisted by sin.
ReplyDeleteI hate being cold, too...and Ohio's climate isn't nearly as severe as Montana's, so maybe I'm not one to talk. But...I love snow. It brings brightness and cheer to the gray dead part of the year; it's a blanket tucking the sleeping world to bed. It crunches companionably beneath one's feet. It can be built into warm fuzzy snowmen, and it makes you glad for a roaring fire and a cup of tea. Each snowflake is a symbol of a human life in its brevity, obscurity, and miraculous individual beauty. A snowfall is breathtaking, and afterwards the sounds of the world are muffled and God seems very near.
Maybe in some way snow is a result of sin? But on a deeper level I think it's a miracle. Perhaps like the Easter miracle, which could only have come about in the presence of tragedy, which causes Catholics to sing every Holy Saturday the thundering paradox, "Oh happy fault of Adam which won for us so great a Redeemer."
I guess the reason I believe it's a direct result of the Fall, is because I believe that before the flood, the atmosphere was different. I believe there was a protective shield of sorts around the earth, and that was broken through when it rained for the first time ... I also believe it never rained before the flood, but that there was a sort of dew-mist that rose from the ground every night to water the planet. After the flood, that protective shield was broken, and thus the weather was messed up + the flood broke the earth itself, causing earth quakes and all other sorts of natural disasters. This is actually a widely accepted Creationism theory. Of course, it's just a theory, but I believe it's the most likely.
DeleteBut yeah .. are snow is different here ;p I lived in Ohio for awhile. It was cold there, but we never got piles of snow. It doesn't bring brightness and cheer to most of the people I know here, but locks them in their homes for months, or makes ranching all the more difficult. It doesn't tuck one in nicely, but smothers one mercilessly ;p It doesn't crunch under one's foot, but our feet sink down, down, down into it's cruel depths. It's rarely good enough to make snow men out of, and even if it were ... who has time for that? Haha. But I do love tea and warm fires ... when I have time, which again is rare, because I have to spend most of my days driving through it to clean houses.
I definitely don't think it's a miracle, ahah. I see it's occasional beauty; but for the most part I strongly believe that there's be no snow in heaven ;D One of my friends has joked that hell is really made of snow; it's so cold it burns.
And that is a thundering paradox ;D I guess I'm of the mind that I'm not happy Adam failed, because Yeshuah dying for us was horrific. I'm glad He did it, but I'm not glad we caused Him to do it ;D
Love your thoughts!!!
Mmhmm, I've heard that theory and think it's really cool! Not sure whether I believe it literally or not myself? But it definitely makes sense.
DeleteYeah...I guess C. S. Lewis' mention of snow in The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe is pretty accurate--it's nice to look at from a warm room, but a different thing entirely when you have to deal with it directly. (Like a lot of tragic circumstances, I guess...we like to *read* stories set in wars, but living through them is just harrowing.)
Ooh I think Dante'd agree with that analysis of Hell--he portrays the very deepest pit of Cochytus as ice, y'know! Sin is cold. Well, what about this: there will be *warm* snow in Heaven? ...or perhaps snow that's some wonderful brand of temperature that nips your nose and makes you feel alive rather than hurting you and threatening your life?
Exactly! Peter Kreeft has a good quote on the Crucifixion and how mankind fell so badly that God had to die to save it (which is horrific any way you cut it), but is so loved by God that he wanted to die to save it (which is glorious any way you cut it). It's extreme at both the positive and negative end of the spectrum. (Chesterton loved those kinds of extremes, heehee…)
And I love yours!!
Oh, I totally didn't remember that in Lewis' book .. but such a great way to describe the conflicting feelings. And then going on to compare to tragic circumstance. Yes, from a distance, pain can be romantic, but once you know it you don't want to ever know it again.
DeleteI so need to read Dante's book ;0 Been meaning to. As for warm snow in heaven ... that sounds like cotton candy .. sticky and disgusting, haha. But if it wasn't, that could be fun, I guess ;d
I like how you say it's extreme no matter the side of the spectrum. True. I also love how you just quoted so many people in your comment .... impressed ;D
I love snow, but I understand why someone wouldn't. I love that God put beauty into everything.
ReplyDeleteAnd I try to understand why some love snow ... I think it's easier to love if you don't /have/ to deal with it.
DeleteYou were bashing my snow again!! XD I'm glad you're catching some of the beauty in it!
ReplyDeleteHa, you know me! Seriously, if you love it so much why don't you just take it all? lol. But yeah, there's beauty in everything mundane and miserable, right?
DeleteI think snow is pretty and it does cover up the brown earth, but it is cold. I more don't like the cold than the snow. It can be 32 and sunny with snow. Yes I have drove on ice.
ReplyDeleteYeah, that's my main issue. If snow wasn't so cold and slippery and dangerous I'd have no problem with it ;) But yeah, some days it can be warmer with snow. Oh? I didn't realize you were even driving yet. It's good to practice on the ice as soon as you can though ;D
DeleteAs someone who lives in Texas, I love snow... but if we had snow more than one day a year I guess it would get old. :'D
ReplyDeleteBelieve me, it gets old after like nine months of solid winter ;p (maybe I'm slightly exaggerating, but only slightly).
DeleteI think snow is pretty for the first day it falls and then I'm done. I like freshly fallen snow, but I'm not a fan of slush or when the snow gets all muddy and messed up haha
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Haha, you know, I think I'd be the same, if snow only lasted a day I'd like it all right ; d
DeleteThis is an interesting discussion; I never thought of this before. But I love snow, and honestly don't think it's a bad thing. Whether it's beautiful or not is subjective, and I personally think it can be extraordinarily beautiful. Beauty comes from God, so I don't think snow is "anti-God" so to speak.
ReplyDeleteI can understand why many people love snow. But where I live it's can actually be very bad for the ranchers/ people driving on the road. Snow looses it's fantasy feel after months of dirt and ice being thrown into the mix, not to mention the frigid cold wind that comes with it, and just how dangerous it all is for everyone having to live through it. But yeah ... I don't think snow is necessarily anti-God, but I definitely don't think He made snow either ;p
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