I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas

On Saturday I drove over Rabbit Ears Pass, returning from Steamboat Springs, CO. On Friday, when I drove up there, visibility on the Pass was obscured by clouds and snow. Returning on Saturday, the air was clear. I could see the snow-covered mountains with hints of purple, blue, green, and brown showing through. The trees were post-card perfect with snow on every bough. In the meadows, snow was disturbed only where snowmobiles and cross-country skiers had been earlier. It was a painting of the grandest proportions. Art that no mortal artist could duplicate.

Snow and mountain settings will, for me, always bring to mind how amazing is God. The same God who created these mountains and snow for our enjoyment finds relationships and interaction so important that He created us. People. But relationships do not possess depth and character when one is forced into that relationship.

So, He also gave us the ability to choose whether to be in relationship with Him. And, when the world was perfect, people (Adam and Eve only) interacted with God very closely. But then, they chose to disobey an instruction God had given.

And, thus, sin entered our world. Perfection in relationship ceased to exist for humans. Interaction with God was broken. But God promised a way to restore that interaction. He promised a method of atonement and said that no other type of atonement would suffice. He promised a perfect sacrifice. The sacrifice is an intermediary between us and God for the purpose of reestablishing relationship with Him. In fact, this intermediary puts us back in direct relationship with our creator God. It’s the whole point of celebrating Christmas. Christmas is a day set aside once a year to remember that our intermediary came to restore relationship with God. The deal is, we have to want to be in relationship with God. We have to choose. God’s not going to force you to want Him.

This morning I woke up and looked outside. The world outside my condo is white and there’s more of the white stuff coming down. Again I was reminded of how great is the God who created us, loves us, wants us. I choose to be in relationship with this God. I’m not perfect. But He is. And He takes me as I am.

Do you choose to be in relationship with Him? What things in our world remind you of the power, majesty, splendor, love, etc of God?