White as Snow...

This is one of the most beautiful mornings I have ever seen. Breathtaking, really. Have you ever noticed with a blanket of snow even dirt piles and weeds look pretty? Well, they do. White is pure, it is clean. I can't help but think about the scripture in Isaiah.

"Come now, let us reason together," says the LORD. "Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be white as snow, though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool... Isaiah 1:18

While our lives may be a mess and resemble a dirt pile or weeds through His blood our hearts became white as snow. White and pure and clean. And that is how the Lord see us. Isn't that incredible? That He sees us as spotless. I've often wondered how that works. How can our hearts be stained with sin and yet He sees us as beautiful. I had the connection today. As I looked out in our neighborhood - where weeds grew was beauty, where filth lie below the surface - pure white. I truly am in awe of a God that by giving His son for our sins we became white as snow. I know I don't "feel" white, pure, clean or spotless. But that is because I have been allowing the world to have its hold on me. Those are my choices. I have the snow as a clear visual of what He sees. And what He deserves from me, my heart, my choices. To live to glorify Him, to bring honor to Him, to love Him more than any immediate gratification or pleasure that the world has to offer me.

Ok, I am going to go somewhere with this. Hopefully it makes sense. Just as the snow from the sky covers the ground and all it touches turns into pure white beauty so does the blood of Jesus with the hearts of those who believe. So, snow from the sky has the same effect with the earth as the power of Jesus' blood does with believers. The biggest difference I can see is that while the snow from the sky melts away and the filth re-emerges for all to see. The blood of Jesus Christ is an eternal covering. You don't have to wait for another season of snow for us to become pure once again. God gave us his son once and he died once for us to accept Him once for us to be covered always.

So, while we drown in sin or surface from it, while we become backsliders or begin to move forward again, while we have been wounded and are beginning to push through the pain...He has us in his hands. No matter how dirty we are - all the while - He has us. And through his blood He has washed us as white as snow. Beautiful. :)

Ok, I could go on but I am changing subjects.

Finally, the snow man has been built. Love is thrilled. Or she is " 'Appy (happy)..eva, eva, eva eva" :)Which I have to tell you something quick about that statement. Love walks around asking...." 'Appy or Sad?" to everyone in our family. She takes almost hourly inventory of our feelings. It's cute. Anyway, here is the snowman. We lacked the basic decor for the snowman. He would not retain the choices we had so we resorted to a more beachy approach. It worked. And we are 'appy with him :)