Snowflakes! (Photo credit: nutmeg66)

The Snowflake

As cooler temperatures begin to give way to colder ones, I find myself thinking about winter and the arrival of snowflakes. Have you ever noticed the beauty of a snowflake? Each one is unique. It is said that no two were ever created alike. If you have ever caught one in your hand you know that you can only study if for the briefest of moments. For soon, because of the touch of our hand, the snowflake melts and is gone….

It strikes me that much of God’s handiwork suffers the same fate. Created in beauty, unique and original, but the moment it is touched by human hands; altered, irrevocably changed- ultimately destroyed.

So much of this is true of The Church. We have a mission. We are to communicate to a world in need the beauty and wonder of God’s Word and His divine sacrifice. This, like the snowflake- is perfect and beautiful beyond description. Our response? We organize. We hold endless meetings. We build structures. We design programs. We hold capitol campaigns and draw up budgets. At the touch of our hand- the snowflake of God’s mission is melted and destroyed. We are left with only a small puddle where once there was the perfect and sublime. Sadly, much of God work- praise, prayer, worship- is marred by our touch….

How to see and hold the snowflake without altering it? How to examine it and share it with another without callously disrupting its original intent and beauty so that it can be seen as intended by God? This is our challenge. So much of what passes as “religion” is just a drop of water left behind as we destroy God’s perfect and original snowflakes……Amen