My husband and I are on a short vacation trip to the Grand Canyon. We took a train ride, with "Wild West" entertainment, to the Grand Canyon. Here it is, the middle of April, and what was the weather? SNOW! It has been snowing off and on for almost 24 hours. We don't usually get to see snow now that we live in the middle of Arizona. But in the "high desert" and northern part of the state, they do get occasional snow. But in the middle of April? Did it have to be on the one day we go on vacation to the Grand Canyon?
I must say it was a treat to see the snow piling up as high as it could on the evergreen branches, bending the boughs low, covering the ground with a white blanket, but leaving the streets fairly clear. It was a joy to see elk resting and playing in this unexpected spring cover. The flakes were cutting through the air sideways at times, as the wind blew so fiercely that even the birds had trouble making headway. It had no effect on us as we were taking it all in from the comfort of a first class train car. When we got to the canyon, the tour bus canceled it's trip to the rim because the snow was preventing the people from seeing the canyon at all, like a dense fog. However, patience paid off, when we walked to a lookout site and waited for the lulls in the storm. When the sun fought it's way through the cloud cover occasionally, and the snow slowed or even stopped briefly, there were indeed some beautiful sites in spite of the snowstorm. It was a wonderful reward to see how white the snow was as it laid to rest on all the surfaces, no matter how minute, even each pine needle. Yet the the areas untouched by the crystals provided colorful contrast, the areas beneath the ledges, the nooks and crannies, the undersides of the branches, all with their own variations of tones, tints and shades.
Snow is such a pure white. Can anything be whiter than snow? Only God, who made the snow to be white, can make anything even whiter than that. When we ask God to cleanse us, he not only makes our souls clean and free from dirt and sin, he makes us even whiter than the snow:
Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow. Psalm 51:7 NIV
Our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, whose death and resurrection we celebrated last week, is our own cloak of snow, changing our blood red sins to pure white innocence.
Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool. Isaiah 1:18 NIV
Thank you, Lord, for your cleansing blood on the cross that makes my scarlet sins white and my soul even whiter than snow, and for coming back to life so that I might live with joy, eternally with you in heaven. In your name I pray, AMEN.
written by Jan Andersen
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