Being Still in the Snow

Total, absolute quiet.

It is so rare in a house with two young children, in a fast-paced culture, with long to-do lists.

I don’t often get the chance to just sit and enjoy being still.

Enter Michigan winter.

Day after day after day of white snowfall blankets my world in quiet. Roads become impassable, and schools, churches, and businesses close for the day.

We are given the opportunity to just be home—to enjoy the white, clean, fresh, silent air.

It’s nice.

This winter in Michigan has been wild. We are buried in snow that reaches up to my knees, and in some places, nearly to my waist.

And it has given me the space to reflect, be still, and simply enjoy being with my kids.

Being quiet is so much more important than we often realize.

In his book "Whisper" Mark Batterson writes,

" In a study of elementary-age students at a grade school in Manhattan psychologist Arelne Bronzaft found that children assigned to classrooms on the side of the school facing an elevated train track were eleven months behind their counterparts on the other side of the building. After New York City Transit installed noise-abatement equipment on the tracks, a follow-up study found no difference with the groups.

When our lives get loud, with noise filling every frequency, we lose our sense of being. We run the risk of turning into human doings rather than human beings. And when our schedules get busy we lose our sense of balance, which is a function of the inner ear.

Can I go out on a limb? Your life is too loud. Your schedule is too busy.

That is how and why we forget that God is God.

Silence in anything but passive waiting. It is proactive listening."

(Whisper: Hearing the Voice of God, Tyndale House Publishers, 2017, p. 15)

I can personally attest to the detriment of losing balance. My husband recently had a severe bout of vertigo that was completely debilitating. He could barely stand without breaking into a sweat due to the intense spinning sensation he felt. Some crystals in his inner ear had become misaligned while he was sleeping, and it was only after physical therapy that they were realigned.

It can be easy for us to get so busy that we are practically sleepwalking through our lives—going through routines and never stopping to recognize that something might be out of alignment.

Taking time to reflect and be still gives us the chance to hear God’s voice and realign where necessary.

A few things I have been thinking about as I watch the snow fall:

The power of God:

Each tiny snowflake has its own DNA, a unique pattern. In my front yard alone there are billions of specifically designed bits of white fluff. How amazing that God has the power and creativity to come up with that?!

• Psalm 147:16-17: "He spreads the snow like wool and scatters the frost like ashes... Who can withstand his icy blast?".

• Job 37:6: "He says to the snow, ‘Fall on the earth’".

• Job 38:22: "Have you entered the storehouses of the snow...?"

The Mercy of God:

Snow seems like another level of white. It is almost glowing with light, brightening up the gray winter. It is a white that covers over dirt, grime, and blemishes in the yard. At this point, with two feet or more, you can't even see what bushes and plants were in the yard before. It is covered. And that is exactly how our sin is. The dirt and the grime of our hearts are covered by Jesus's forgiveness and washed white. We are fresh!

• Isaiah 1:18 "Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be washed white as snow."

• Psalms 51:7 "Cleanse me with hyssop and I will be clean, wash me and I will be whiter than snow."

What does the snow make you think about? It can be easy to get tired of the cold or the sketchy driving conditions. But instead, let's look at crazy winter storms as an opportunity to be a little less busy and a little more quiet.

Psalms 46:10 to "be still and know that He is God."