The Snowflake's Journey

Once upon a time a tiny, brand-new snowflake descended from the sky.  It was carried gently along on the breezes, fluttering here and there, before gently landing upon the ground.

There it was cloaked in a sea of white obscurity among the other tiny snowflakes.

Until one day.

On that day a pair of hands reached down and, ever so tenderly, picked that snowflake up.

He examined the tiny snowflake.  This snowflake was now not so new.  It was slightly damaged from the skyfall.  It was wondering at it's life course, here among so many other snowflakes, some bigger and more beautiful and more pronounced than itself.  For it was just a tiny, little snowflake among so many others.

But He saw it's beauty and uniqueness.  He spoke to this tiny snowflake of His wonder of her beauty and purpose and how she was created to be just as she is, a tiny snowflake with six points and all the unique designs she carried within her and upon her tiny snowflake frame.

And there came a day..............when she believed His words.

She had always believed in Him.  She had seen evidence of Him throughout the world she had fallen into.  There were much bigger things which had no explanation other than the one provided by those big hands that enveloped her.  She believed, easily, in Him.

But that day.............she believed in herself.

On that day she believed He could use her to do special things.

And so it began.

Another leg of this snowflake's journey.

She began to notice that other snowflakes were being plucked from upon the ground, the hands shaping and molding them to her.  Some were big, some were tiny, some looked kind of like her, others did not.  All were uniquely made and beautiful, as snowflakes are known to be.  Not any one snowflake was like any other.

They were molded and shaped by those hands until they resembled something bigger than themselves, something different than what they were alone.

And it took awhile.

Those hands needed time to smooth the rough edges and tightly pack those snowflakes together.

Until one day.................they formed a somewhat perfectly shaped, round ball.

And it was time.

He gently laid that ball back on the ground, the ground upon which He once had found all those snowflakes, plucking them from their white obscurity and creating them into something more.

And for a time it settled there.

Until one day...............it started to roll, slowly at first.  But this snowball had been placed on a top of a high, high hill.  And we all know what happens when a snowball is placed upon a hill...........it starts to roll.

And, indeed, it did.  It's progress was a bit slow at first, as it neared the brink of that hill and begin to precariously tip over edge.

But from there it gained momentum.

It began it's journey down the hill, the mountain really.  As it began it's descent and gained speed it picked up other snowflakes along the way and the snowball began to grow bigger and bigger.

Now as happens with all snowballs and journeys down large mountains while so many snowflakes grabbed on and were packed tightly in..........well, others were flung off and made to start over, on other journeys in different places.  You can never quite know where you are going to land.  The life of a snowflake is as varied as it's design.

And so they went along...........speeding, sometimes slowing as they hit different bumps and turns and obstacles along the way, down the mountain.

Until one day....................there came the end.

They had arrived at the bottom.

And as that once new, once tiny snowflake looked around..............well, she was in awe.  She remembered the day she had been blown gently on the breezes, landing upon the ground.  She remembered feeling insignificant and small and overwhelmed by all around her.  She remembered the hands.  She remembered the care and love shown to her all the years and she remembered the gathering of the others.  She remembered the packing in and smoothing and being laid upon the ground, as something new, something that was created uniquely by those hands.  And oh how she remembered the journey down the mountain - how thrilling and dangerous it had seemed at times but how she would trade it for nothing in this world.  She remembered it all and because she did she was able to look back and see His hands in it all...............

How one tiny snowflake grew into a tremendously large, gloriously made snowball.