I’ve always dreamed of waking up to a white Christmas, but it hasn’t happened yet. That might be because I live in the wrong part of the world. My American friends are sick of snow by the twenty-fifth of December, while I groan over the lack of it. My hopes soared one year in my early twenties when a shower of white suddenly floated gracefully down from the sky at lunchtime, only to be dashed when it came to nothing and soon melted. I wonder how many British families have rusting sledges tucked away in their attics or garages, bought in the hope of snow that never came.
Whenever it snows, whether it’s December or February, I immediately revert to my childhood. I love throwing snowballs at my husband and hearing crunching underfoot. There is something serene and magical about waking up to a world shrouded in a white so bright it almost hurts your eyes. I’m still longing for that white Christmas because the purity of fresh snow seems like a fitting way to celebrate the birth of the perfect Son of God.
Perhaps that’s why we all love the carol that talks about “Snow on snow” even though Jesus almost certainly wasn’t born on the twenty-fifth of December. The first verse is picturesque, but the remaining stanzas are more profound. Jesus came from a glorious place where cherubim worshipped him night and day to a stable full of animals, to be nursed at the breast of an ordinary girl who worshipped with a mother’s tender kiss.
When I glance out of my window at freshly fallen snow, it reminds me that although my life is stained by sin, Jesus’s blood shed on the Cross has washed me whiter than the snow. What can I possibly give him in exchange for such love and forgiveness? The final verse of the carol gives an answer. I can give him my heart.
Prayer.
Lord, I thank you that when I come to you seeking salvation and forgiveness for my sin, your blood washes me whiter than snow. Today, I receive your gift of forgiveness and eternal life, and I offer you my heart.
Song: In the bleak midwinter.
Scriptures to ponder.
Isaiah 1: 18: “‘Come now, let’s settle this,’ says the Lord. ‘Though your sins are like scarlet, I will make them as white as snow. Though they are red like crimson, I will make them as white as wool.'”
Psalm 51: 7: “Purify me from my sins, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.”