However inconvenient - fresh snow does make for a beautiful landscape. But if you've been out and about in the UK this last week or so you will know that it doesn't take long for the whiteness to become a dirty grey and then black alongside roads etc. And once it starts to melt it goes to that grey slushy stage.
In our week long reflection on the Beatitudes (Matthew 5:3-12) we reach 'blessed are the pure in heart for they will see God' (verse 8). The image of being washed whiter than snow is found in Psalm 51:7, a Psalm that David wrote on being confronted after committing murder and adultery. But if you're anything like me it doesn't take long before the whiteness starts to turn a little grey, and then a little bit more...
Psalm 24:3-4 tells us that it is those with clean hands and a pure heart who may ascend the mountain of the Lord. Psalm 119:9 tells us that it is as we live by God's word that we keep our way pure. But a clean heart is only possible through the work of God - when we ask Him (Psalm 51:10). And we need to keep on asking, coming back again and again for forgiveness. When we live this close to God Jesus says we will see him.
