When I was growing up in the beautiful and glorious state of New Jersey, I sometimes wondered about how people managed to live all their lives in places that only saw one season.  Palm trees are nice and all, but how could one truly experience a full year without a few months of cold weather, a few months of hot weather, and the seasons of anticipatory transitions in between?

 

Over the past few years, I’ve come to wonder less and less about that, as I’ve become less and less enamored of winter.  Since I’ve reached adulthood, the season seems to have gotten longer . . . and colder!  Don’t get me wrong, I love wearing sweaters, my peacoat, and boots.  But couldn’t we call it quits at say, forty degrees?  There’s no need for freezing temperatures.  What is there to love about icicle toes and red noses?

 

This year, I find myself taking a different view, and for one very special, inimitable reason:  snow.  We’ve had tons of it in New York and New Jersey.  I love snow, especially in large quantities (and especially when I live in an apartment building and don’t have to shovel any of it).

 

It’s beautiful, especially when it’s just fallen, and it’s a fantastic, tangible demonstration of the power God has over the earth.  No person can create snow like He can—even with snowmaking machines on ski slopes, it’s just not the same.

 

I don’t know if it’s scientifically proven, or just in my head, but the cold feels different when there’s snow on the ground.  It’s not so intense, not so biting.  And there’s a sense of silence and peace that comes much more easily on the morning after a storm.  It can stop us in our tracks and make us change our plans, for better or for worse.  It’s a reminder that it’s not all about us, an occasion that gives us opportunity to get closer to the things that matter, to help out those in need.

 

I suppose I’m romanticizing snow some.  After all, I didn’t have to get up early and dig my way out to get to work this morning.  But too often people talk about how much of a problem snow causes, how storms are terrible and we wish we didn’t have them.  I, for one, am grateful for snow.  And I’m sure if we get this much next year, Jacob will be too!

 

In the meantime, here’s to hot chocolate, sweatpants, and school closings: Here’s to snow!