The white stuff

We're getting to that point in Advent where the bustle starts to increase. 12 days of Christmas is a reminder of a todo list not a song of Christmas cheer. Preparations are looming, so are visits from and with family. And the end of the year is all wrapped up as a nice little present to add to the chaos.

Enter snow.

I wished I lived in a city where it snowed. I love snow. There is something about the white stuff that is a balm for my soul. It has something to do with what happens when it snows. When snow is falling, the world around me gets quiet. Not just quiet because people are mostly indoors, but the snow absorbs sound. It muffles the noise. And it covers everything—at least a good snow does—leaving the world rounded and soft. The ugliness of the landscape is sculpted with whites and blues and greys. Sharp angles are dulled.

Snow can completely change my vantage point.

Many years ago, I walked in a heavy snow fall at a low point in my life. The snow crunched under my feet as I moved away from the business of the day into the calm of the forest. As I walked through the falling white, I was overwhelmed with the representation of God's grace in snow. It absorbed the noise of my heart and head, it covered the ugliness and dulled the sharp angles. And it changed how I saw my world around me.

So in the absence of snow, I'm seeking symbolic snowfalls in my week. I need them. I need those moments where God's grace blankets and stills me. I have had them. They come in the form of friendship, a song, a horizon or a hug from my kids.

I'm hoping for snow this Christmas! (Same as every Christmas) I hope you get some as well.

Here are the readings for the fifteenth day of Advent:

Isaiah 1:18

“Come. Sit down. Let’s argue this out.”

This is God’s Message:

“If your sins are blood-red,

they’ll be snow-white.

If they’re red like crimson,

they’ll be like wool."

Psalm 51:7

"Soak me in your laundry and I’ll come out clean,

scrub me and I’ll have a snow-white life."

Hebrews 9:22

"That’s why blood, the evidence of death, is used so much in our tradition, especially regarding forgiveness of sins."

1 John 1:7

"But if we walk in the light, God himself being the light, we also experience a shared life with one another, as the sacrificed blood of Jesus, God’s Son, purges all our sin."

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_Creative Waiting is a design reflection on the season of Advent. It is released daily December 1st through the 25th. For more on the why behind the series, start here. To begin at the beginning, start with Day 1. All verses are quoted from The Message unless otherwise noted.