First Snow

I love a first snow.  Soft white flakes, drifting down through the cold, crisp air and pillowing on the ground.  If I am really lucky, the snow sticks to the tree branches, the cars, the roof, the swings and even the chicken house.  I don't know what it is about the snow that I like so much.  Maybe it is just that I never really lived in it before.  I certainly didn't grow up with it softly covering the dessert of Arizona.

So, I feel very blessed to have it as part of my life now, (although I might not feel that way in February).  I was watching out the window today as the snow was falling and couldn't help thinking of one of my often reflected on scriptures.  Isaiah 1:18  "Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool".  The snow really is white.  So what does that mean for me?  Have you ever washed a red sock or shirt in with your whites?  What happens?  I will never forget the time I did that on accident and all the
underwear turned pink!  Now, that wasn't so bad for me, but my husband wasn't very happy to be sporting pink underwear.  It just doesn't fit the manly image!  Not only were they pink, but it was a pink that would NOT come out.  No matter how many times I tried.  I even tried bleach, to no avail.  Those whites stayed pink in one shade or another until we wore them out.  I have ruined more postal shirts with red ink staining the shirt than I care to think about.  There is just something about red or scarlet color.  It is nearly impossible to ever get clean again.  I think the Lord knew that when He gave us this scripture.  He wasn't talking about ordinary color, He was talking about Red.  He knows how difficult it is to ever get that red out and be clean again.  Isn't it wonderful that the gift of the Savior works so much better than the bleach I used.  Not only are our red sins made white, but they are made white like snow!  They are so white that you can't even see a fading of the red that used to be there.  Sometimes, I have a hard time understanding how that can happen.  It seems that even when I know I am forgiven, I am always looking to see if the red is still there.  If there is still a spot somewhere that He missed.  I keep wondering how He could love me so much that He would give me that great and amazing gift.  Somehow, it is hard to believe that I am white as snow.  When I look out on a morning of fresh snowfall, it renews my hope.  It reminds me of the Saviors love for each of us and it also reminds me that I too can be clean like the beautful snow.