Whiter than snow...

Psalm 51:7
Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.

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

Here in Texas snow is a rare occurrence, and "good" snow, as in the kind that isn't yellow-brown and slushy, is all the more rare. So at 6:00am this morning when Kevin tapped me awake to tell me it was snowing, I shot up like a school girl to look outside. To my delight Texas woke up this morning to a snow covered fairyland resembling Narnia more than the lone star state. Big, fluffy, white snow flakes are falling as we speak with no sign of stopping. I excitedly phoned my mom and we talked about the snow day and venturing out to a possible lunch date and then she sighed and said, "Doesn't snow make everything look more beautiful? It could be a ghetto and with the blanket of white, it would look like a wonderland."

She's right, there's something about snow that's magical. It has the ability to transform anything it blankets. When it snows, it seems as if life stops. Businesses and schools close and people shut in to curl by the fire while they watch the flakes fall. Today it even seems as if sound itself is dampened by the billowy blanket of white outside. This is a world at rest.

What's more amazing to me is that Psalms tells us that when we turn to God and repent, when we accept Christ's cleansing sacrifice, this is how the Lord views us. To Him we are immediately transformed and we become as white, whiter than snow. It's so easy to get caught up in our foibles, to face-palm ourselves once again for yet another mistake, but as I look out on the beautiful blanket of snow today, I'm reminded that God looks at me the same way. There is no flaw, no sin in me anymore. To him, I'm the blanket of snow that gleams in the sunlight. To him, I'm beautiful.