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"We could eat these if this was clean." my daughter said as she coaxed snow-cupcakes from the muffin pan that had lived most of it's life in the sand box.
We'd had a fresh covering of snow and the children had been out all day playing in it. I looked around for an untouched patch, thinking that we could wash the pan and start over. The roads had been plowed, framing two sides of our property with a layer of filth. The yard was a maze of grass-patches where large snow balls had grabbed up all of the snow to make snowmen. Sled tracks covered the small hill in the front yard, and boot prints were every where.
"It would have to snow again for us to find some clean snow!" I thought to myself.
It got me thinking about fresh snow. I love to look out the window the morning after an all-night snowfall and see the untouched beauty.
Everything clean.
White.
Sparkling.
How fitting for the second day of a new year! Everyone is making resolutions to have a better year. To DO better. To BE better. Everyone recognizes that they get a fresh start. A clean slate.
That no matter how you have failed in the past year, you have an opportunity to start over!
Isn't this just like God? He gives us this chance each and every day. "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new." He states matter of factly.*
He takes all of the mistakes of the past year... the past day... the past moment...
And He covers them with His grace - - IF we let Him!
"If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us . [But] if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness." (1 John 1: 8-9 NIV)
This is what King David understood - after his bout with adultery and conspiracy to commit murder - when He begged God for forgiveness:
"Have mercy on me, O God, according to Your unfailing love...wash away all my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin... Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow." (Psalm 51:1,2,7 NIV)
He knew that there was no sin too great for God to forgive. He acknowledged that this true and living God is the God of second chances (and third chances, and fourth chances...) and he uses the word picture of a freshly fallen snow. How appropriate!
The prophet Isaiah shows us the same photo when he speaks as the voice of God reasoning with the people: "...Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow, though they are red like crimson, they shall be as wool." (Isaiah 1:18 NKJV)
There is no sin so small that you should avoid inconveniencing Him with it, no sin so big that He cannot cover it.
Are you ready for a fresh snowfall? Every day!
*2 Corinthians 5:17 NKJV
photo credit
photo credit Everyday Life Matters of the Heart
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2 comments:
Thank yoy for this encouragement.
I like your words: There is no sin so small that you should avoid inconveniencing Him with it, no sin so big that He cannot cover it.
Thats His grace and love.
Praise Him.
I sure am. Forgiveness is a wonderful thing. Lovely post!
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