I grew up in the north—at a latitude and altitude that made the winter season long and cold. Before the first snows arrived it was a stark picture of evergreen trees scattered among those that lost their leaves in the autumn, of fields filled with dormant grasses and dead weeds, and the smoke lazily curling into the darkening skies from a thousand chimneys. The days were short and the winter nights long. No children played outside, no sounds of laughter were to be heard, and in the distance one could hear the solitary sound of an ax splitting through a piece of wood. We were all preparing for the coming of winter.
Soon the first snows would arrive and the scenery of desolation would be covered in a sweeping white blanket and transformed into a scene of great beauty. The trees that were bare of leaves were now frosted, and everything of nature and man was now buried beneath a sparking wave of white. Talk about a makeover…it was now a Winter Wonderland.
There was a time when my soul was a cold and barren wasteland. My life was in high gear, and going nowhere quickly. The price of sin was high and as in all cases, it was destroying the work of the creator. Sin robs us of everything that is meaningful and strips us of our dignity. Our lives grow with increased desperation as we scramble to survive and find meaning. It is in this state of disarray that the voice of the Lord whispers to our heart a message of hope and life. “Come now, and let us reason together; though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as the snow.”
What can change the discouraged and dying heart of a life marked by sin? My life changed when I said, “Yes,” to God's suggestion. It was a reasonable choice—an unexpected opportunity—a chance to see the ugliness that was my life transformed as God covered my sin with a blanket of forgiveness. The heart that was once dead and cold was now a wonderland…a thing of beauty…as pure as the driven snow.
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