Winter has finally arrived. We awakened this morning to a lovely white blanket covering our brownish yard and the maple and birch branches were outlined in white against the backdrop of a gray sky. It is a heavy wet snow and perfect for snowballs. It packs nicely and has given birth to a new population. Here and there one will spot a portly fellow with a corncob pipe and long thin orange nose.
It’s a temporary population very susceptible to some promised 40 degree days. Like people going into a sauna they will rapidly lose weight, but unlike most people they will not regain it the next day. We also are a temporary population. Our 70 plus years are as fleeting as Mr. Snowman. We melt away and our molecules will most likely once again be used in another human or perhaps a snowman.
If all there is to life is this temporal experience one has to ask why. Of what use or value is this other than a few years of happiness if we are fortunate? I genuinely feel sorry for very bright people who have no hope beyond here. They learn many languages. They get many degrees. Then it all goes the same place Mr. Snowman went. Solomon speaks of its futility. I want so much for them to understand we have an incredible God who wants to build on what they have accomplished. There awaits a never-ending acquisition of knowledge and to speak a multitude of languages without Star Trek’s universal translator button. There is so much science to learn, so many poems to write, so many essays to study and so many places to visit.
Alas, without Jesus we are merely snowpeople.
Written by Roger Bothwell on January 13, 2012
Spring of Life Ministry, PO Box 124, St. Helena, CA 94574
Rogerbothwell.org