Some thoughts on life and death from a wintry sky

If you're in Maine or Minnesota you're looking for signs of spring. In Texas or Georgia you're wishing things will stay cool, but changes are inevitable. Time marches on regardless of how we feel about it. Everything is fleeting, as I was reminded on my morning walk. 

I headed outside thinking all the snow would be gone (it's 39 today) but then surprisingly, fresh new snowflakes appeared in the air… the kind of brief flurry that was here for 10 or 15 minutes like the appearance of a flock of mayflies. They kissed my face and filled the sky, then melted in thin air... leaving me wondering at the memory of their beauty. 

A cold wind kicked up and I quickened my pace. I smelled the smoke of chimneys and kicked some pine branches on the street. For a few seconds the sweet aroma of pine reminded me of Christmas. The sound of geese burst over the trees and faded away and I was touched with a message of life whispering to my soul all around me—little reminders of a great Creator who loves us so much. Walking with the Lord, life is a constant reflection of all his living parables, his thumbprints all over the world. 

The wood burning fire only does its work because it is being spent for our benefit. It will leave nothing but a heap of white ashes, reduced from the logs that once stood in a forest of beautiful green trees, cut down to bring heat to those families.

The smell of pine only nourishes me because branches were broken in a storm, and my feet released their sweet fragrance. Jesus was crushed and bruised to pay for the full weight of my sin so I could walk in the sweetness of new life. He was broken so I could savor his love forever. 

Then came the cries of geese wandering home like pilgrims after a long winter. They carry nothing but the hope that they will soon find rest, like our spirits in this world. "Come to me all you who labor and are heavy-laden, and I will give you rest for your soul." So the Lord calls us into his rest. "Stop your striving and self-effort. I've done it all for you," he said. 

Yesterday I attended the funeral of a 19-year old girl named Brianna. She died at 5 am on the way to work when she lost control of her car and hit a tree head-on. Thankfully, she had asked the Lord to be her Savior about 2 years ago, following a childhood of abuse in foster homes. Her brief life on earth was like a precious snowflake that appeared and vanished from sight. Like the fragrance of Christmas pine or a whisp of smoke, or the sound of geese over the treetops that was here and gone too soon... 

It's hard to fathom how someone so vibrant and alive can disappear from our lives, but we know that the soul that is alive to God, clean and forgiven, lives forever in his presence. Brianna found that perfect peace and now she is pure and radiant, clothed in white. If we think in terms of eternity, this is a happy ending. 

Walking back home, I noticed the spot where a six-foot heap of snow has melted, exposing the stump of a cut tree at the corner of my driveway. Only a few thin patches remain of the massive white heap I struggled to shovel a few weeks ago in a freezing blizzard. 

I hadn't noticed the new sprigs of baby trees poking through the ground until now. Even this little patch of earth illustrates how the former and familiar may be removed but new life will emerge--perhaps even taking shape because of having lived under the shadow, or sharing the same root with what we've lost.    

Yes, change is inevitable, and everything here is a fleeting shadow in light of eternity, but life goes on in surprising ways.