Fresh Start

 

The winter storm arrived with pouring rains that seemed more like Spring than Winter. As the temperature dropped, the simple rain turned to freezing rain. Then the freezing rain turned to sleet. The next morning saw the sleet turn to snow. The result was beautiful, even if it brought most traffic and business to a standstill.

Trees and bushes appeared as if carved from crystal, perfectly coated with the lasting effects of the freezing rain. The layer of snow served to even out the landscape, erasing the boundaries between sidewalks and lawns. For a moment, between the end of the storm and the slow return to business as usual, the world seemed perfect. Stark and clean in the grey light of the overcast sky, all seemed well. One could not help but think that, perhaps, the world was getting a fresh start.

The prophet Isaiah writes, “Come now, let us reason together, says the Lord: though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool.” The prophet writes, to people in the midst of the worst of times, of things being well between the people and God. God’s love and grace is there for us, covering our sins, our failures, our pain and our disappointments like a perfect, pristine layer of snow. Such love offers us all a fresh start, complete with a glimpse of how beautiful life can be.

Peace.