Snow

After a pretty mild winter last year, and an even warmer one (so far) this year, it was almost a relief to see snow falling as we headed north to the lower peninsula last night. We approached standstill traffic in Ann Arbor due to the "greazy" roads as Mom would say, and sure enough I got the call from Dad informing me that, remember, you can't see "black ice." Sitting there on highway 23, I thought about the snow. It has snowed every winter I can remember of my life so far, but it's funny how as the first flakes fall in November there is always this sense of shock like, "Where'd this stuff come from?" Like you've never seen this odd substance before in your life. And as we wake up and see the ground covered there is always a sense of excitement. It's almost a guarantee that someone at work will start announcing to everyone in a jolly voice, "look outside..." But then, just as soon as the snow comes, we start to grumble about it; like an unexpected guest we're happy to see but promptly want to kick out the door. I guess what I'm saying is I feel like snow gets mistreated and might have an inferiority complex, and so this is my tribute to snow:

"The silence of snow, thought the man sitting just behind the bus-driver. If this were the beginning of a poem, he would have called what he felt inside him `the silence of the snow'." Orhan Pamuk - Snow

First off, snow is very beautiful. Pamuk talks about the silence of snow, and there is something very calming about watching snow fall. Snow transforms what have become normal landscapes, a pine tree, an open field, a hilltop, into something more majestic. Snow beautifies everything it comes in contact with. If Jesus had lived in the Midwest he might have rather said, "you are the snow of the earth". Psalm 51 uses snow as a symbol of the purity that God bestows on us by his grace. In this way, snow is a sort of sacrament in that it is an outward sign reminding us of God's free gift to wash us white as snow. Snow forces us to slow down. It is basic Goulet physics that the colder it gets the slower particles move, and its the same with us, we drive slower, walk slower, laugh a little slower (to go Duritz on you) because of the snow. This, I believe, is why snow gets the cold shoulder (no pun intended) from so many--it has a way of limiting our activity. For children this is a good thing. There was nothing more exciting growing up as hearing "Brighton area schools are canceled" announced from Dad's clock radio in the bathroom as he smacked on the aftershave. And the phrase "snow day" immediately causes kids and teachers (Jeff...ring ring) everywhere to rejoice. This disturbance, however, tends to throw us adults off because appointments get canceled, flights get delayed, roads get closed, and, God forbid, we have to stay at home. My final affirmation of snow is that the very thing that aggravates us is good for us. Snow causes us to disrupt our schedules and rethink what is important. It is so easy to live just from task to task and get trapped in the cycle of business; snow makes us stop and do ordinary things like, sitting by a fire, reading a book, preparing a warm drink, cooking a meal, writing a letter, cleaning the house, or...watching snow fall. Bring it on Old Man Winter!!