The fresh snowfall...

As I pulled out of my driveway this morning and pulled onto the country dirt road we live on, the view toward the North was exquisite.  

Tree limbs hung low weighted down with the heavy, wet snow that fell last night.  But they didn’t appear weighed down like I do when I’m carrying something heavy.  They carried the weight with dignity, adorned with snow like a flowing wedding dress.

I remember my daughter talking to me about the price of beauty one time.  She was wearing some high heels and I said they looked really pretty and she said something about the price of looking pretty…sometimes it costs or hurts.

As I drove under the canopy of snow laden limbs I kept trying to look out my windows to see all the different trees and how they were wearing their new clothes.  Peering into the woods was a sight to behold as well!  All the dirty brown and grey seemed to be cleaned up all in one night.  With the ominous sky and very few evergreens, I felt like I was looking at the world in black and white…but not the kind of black and white that is depressing.  No, this was like a glorious pencil or charcoal sketch artistically drawn to perfection, shadows and shades drawn with the delicate touch of an aesthete.  It’s amazing how dead or dormant trees come alive with a fresh snowfall.  They are transformed into glorious sculptures, wild and wondrous.  Fallen trees don’t seem fallen, just asleep under a blanket of soft cotton.  So peaceful and content.  Clean and redeemed.

Driving down the unplowed country road gave me the opportunity to be one of the first cars to forge a trail, a new set of tracks for those who would come behind me.  Snow flayed off to the sides as I tried to keep momentum so as to not get hung up.  I had to keep a certain speed to make it up the slight inclines.  But even with the car pulling side to side with an occasional slip here and spin there, I was able to glance about taking in the rolling fields with their expansive dips and swells. 

I guess what I’m trying to describe is beauty.  Just one of many beauties that brush up against my soul day by day.  I mean to give them more honorable mentions than I do, but this is an attempt at just that.  To appreciate the experience and fight for expression to capture moments of pleasure before the darkness closes in and causes me to forget.

I love beauty.