itsawonderfilledlife

A few days ago the wet west coast had a different weather system roll in. The air has a chill, the skies are brighter, snow has fallen and there are rumours of more flakey precipitation to come.

I am in a state of delight!

As we drove to work and school the other day, I was pointing out the beauty all aloud us, as though I was on speed.

“Just look at that blue sky”

“The white on that field is inviting”

“Oh those mountains! Fresh snow, and such a beautiful pink hue around them”

Now I know (because I’ve been there) that those (who live in other parts) who see the first snow fall and sigh, knowing that they will not see the end of it for six more months. But this weather change has birthed in me a joy and energy that have been sorely missed these last weeks (months) of rain-magenden!

How is it that something so small, something that makes me have to work harder (all those layers of clothes and boots), something that will cost me (when the natural gas bill arrives), something that others despise could cause such a change in the innermost parts of who I am?

Like the freshly falling snow, came the long-expected Jesus.

So small, some would say too small for a king. Helpless, dependent yet pure, innocent and captivating.

His arrival meant we would have to work harder. No longer bound by the Law, both Jews and Gentiles had a model of how to live, and following his lead would me, does mean, more effort, greater intentionality in what we say and do.

His human birth came with human cost … to him, through his willingness to endure the cross (and all that surrounded that) and to us. He has given us two promises: “in this wold you will have trouble” (John 16:33), but the second is the remedy for the first, “I am with you always, even until the end of time” (Matthew 28:20).

His arrival was not joyfully anticipated or even believed … then, or now. The prophet, Isaiah, said, “He was despised and rejected by mankind, a man of suffering, and familiar with pain. Like one from whom people hide their faces he was despised, and we held him in low esteem” (Isaiah 53:3). The world of humans still choose to eat of the tree of their own choosing … but, he does not force himself on us, for it was he who gave us the choice to make … he knows that love is most favourable when we can choose it freely.

His voice was quiet, soft and slow. Like a  Winter Snow came our redeemer …

Could’ve come like a mighty storm
With all the strength of a hurricane
You could’ve come like a forest fire
With the power of Heaven in Your flame

But You came like a winter snow
Quiet and soft and slow
Falling from the sky in the night
To the earth below

You could’ve swept in like a tidal wave
Or an ocean to ravish our hearts
You could have come through like a roaring flood
To wipe away the things we’ve scarred

But You came like a winter snow, yes, You did
You were quiet, You were soft and slow
Falling from the sky in the night
To the earth below

Ooh no, Your voice wasn’t in a bush burning
No, Your voice wasn’t in a rushing wind
It was still, it was small, it was hidden

Oh, You came like a winter snow
Quiet and soft and slow
Falling from the sky in the night
To the earth below

Falling, oh yeah, to the earth below
You came falling from the sky in the night
To the earth below

Audrey Nicole Assad