Snow Days

     Today, central Arkansas was hit with snow.  This isn't terribly common, but it happens.  Our 3-year-old, Tommy, was very excited!

     For much of my childhood, I didn't believe in snow.  I saw it on TV (usually movies about Santa Claus, whom I knew to be a fairy tale), and since snow was nonexistent in my real life,  I just assumed snow was invented for movies, but wasn't an actual thing that fell from the sky.    

My hometown of Riverside, California, marked just east of Los Angeles.  No snow!

    One of my family's favorite Christmas movies was always White Christmas.   It is still my favorite Christmas movie.  In the film, we see Bing Crosby and company go from Florida to Vermont, to experience "all that snow" (even singing a cute song about it on the train ride up).  When they arrive in Vermont, it is sunny and 68°.  As a child watching this, I actually thought the movie was trying to teach that there's no such thing as snow, and that the characters were mistaken in expecting snow at all (I guess I ignored the beginning and end of the movie, both of which have snow!).  That's how much I thought snow was a fantasy.  I would have staked my life on that as a child.  Snow wasn't real!  It goes to show people can stake their lives on things that are untrue. 

     The first time I saw snow at age 9, I screamed at the top of my lungs, and for a moment, I wondered if this meant magic was real too.  I had judged truth by my experience, and I had been wrong.  

     There is a spiritual message here.  Our experience can teach us things.  Sometimes experience is the best teacher, as they say.  God guides us and uses our experiences, And we know that in all things, God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose. (Romans 8:28).  But we need to interpret our experiences in light of truth, not the other way around.   Our experiences are limited, just like my experience growing up in Riverside, California limited me from knowing snow was, in fact, a reality in many places.  As Christians, we need to go back to God's word to interpret everything that happens to us, and then, we can learn from our experiences.  Second Corinthians 4:8-9 (TLB) says, We are pressed on every side by troubles, but not crushed and broken. We are perplexed because we don’t know why things happen as they do, but we don’t give up and quit. We are hunted down, but God never abandons us. We get knocked down, but we get up again and keep going.

     Sometimes, it is easy to look at our present experience, and believe that's all there is for us.  But Second Corinthians 4:17 assures us, For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.  (NIV).  

     Imagine the discouraged Israelite slaves in Egypt, believing all they had to look forward to was a lifetime of slavery.  That was their experience,  but the reality was, God was raising up Moses to deliver their people!  Imagine young David, the shepherd and youngest child.  His experience was taking care of sheep all day, but the reality was, God was going to make him king of His people!   Imagine Peter in prison, believing he was to be executed.  That was His experience,  but the reality was, Christians across town were praying for him, and God's angel was about to deliver him.  I think the reason Paul and Silas sang in prison (Acts 16) was to remind themselves what was real--not the dank, dark prison, but the glory of God!  Their circumstance wasn't the ultimate reality.

     Some people hold beliefs that are contrary to scripture, because experiences have led them to false conclusions, much like my incorrect conclusions about snow.

     As a little girl in Riverside, California,  I let my experience determine what I believed about the existence of snow.  I was incorrect.  We usually are when we look at truth in light of our experiences.   Do the opposite--look at experience in light of truth!  God has an eternal weight of glory for you!