Whiter than Snow

I remember last year reading my friend Leigh's blog about snow... she too was experiencing her first real winter in Michigan (and probably her last). She wrote of the picture that God gives us in the Bible that when are sins are washed away we are whiter than snow (Isaiah 1:18 "though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow"). As I have now been taking in the new experience of seeing freshly fallen snow, I've appreciated that it is truly a picture of purity.

I've also noticed that it does not take long after the snow falls in our midst for us to taint it's purity. I took this photo the other day while waiting at our downtown bus terminal. Notice the bright white snow on the far side of the driveway, contrasted with the yucky brown mucky slush that has been run over all day by buses. It would have to snow almost continuously for this world to remain "as white as snow", and the same is true for our souls. Thankfully, we serve a God who finds joy in continually forgiving and renewing us with his grace and mercy. My flesh is constantly tainting his handiwork (Isaiah 64:6 "all our righteous acts are like filthy rags"), but he in turn is constantly making me whiter than snow.