The Smallest Blessings
This morning as I did my early morning walk, there was the slightest snowfall. After a winter of many snowstorms and frigid weather, there was something so remarkably gentle about this soft-falling snow that it literally stopped me in my tracks several times… in hushed wonder. I’ve heard that the indigenous people of the Arctic have at least a hundred different names for the various kinds of snow. And this morning I knew this was so different from all our other snow days this year. The first word that came to me about this silent snowfall was “blessing.”
This was not a STORM, not a harrowing TV weather warning snow, with bite-your-nose-and-toes cold. The flakes were small… lightly falling, as though some cosmic angels were gently sprinkling us with the slightest, single flake that would fall almost imperceptibly but beautifully. I instinctively felt, “Ah… blessing.”
So, as I walked in this quiet wonder, I got the message—Earth’s tender blessing on a long winter’s day. And I began to think of ALL the blessings that fall on us. Not just the big, answer-to-your-desperate-prayer blessings. Or the large, prodigious blessings of births, marriages, graduations, and well-earned accomplishments. No, today I stopped and received the message of the silent, slightest flakes that fell lovingly, “Your life is sprinkled EVERY day by small, tender blessings.”
I’d like to offer these reflections for all of us:
- What are the precious, SLIGHT blessings that come to me each day? All the quiet miracles that sustain me?
- In my busy days of tasks and jobs and headache-inducing problems, where are the subtle signs of God’s presence and guidance?
- In my days of overwhelming events and worries, unexpected setbacks, or formidable challenges, how does God softly visit my heaped-up heart with light-as-a-feather GRACE?
The slightest-falling silent snow brought a clear message that broke through the distractions---
“Can you not see the ‘slight blessings’ that go on unnoticed? Open your eyes, beloved. You are blanketed in blessing!”