Whiter Than Snow (poem)

(Note: This is another entry from the archives. For the purposes of historicity, I will leave in my original introduction and closing remarks from January 2011. It seems timely to post this poem since I again recently saw some snowfall that got me some time off from work. And the clean feeling snow leaves after it washes the world in white is always a great metaphor for the washing clean God does of every dirty heart that anyone proffers to Him in faith. :-))


Here's one last poem to wrap things up. This one was inspired by the wonderful snow storm God sent us that got me 2 1/2 days off from work and allowed me time to stay home and work on further writing and other pursuits. This poem was written as a reflection on waking up to a snow day and the picture that God gives us with the invitation to reason it out- and it is the best, most reasonable deal out there- how He can make our vile, filthy, blood-red hearts as clean and pure and white as snow- and cleaner and whiter.

Whiter Than Snow
(poem by Nathan Ludwick 1/10/ 2011)
(Isaiah 1:18)

What amazing transformation transpires in the night
As we slumber and then awaken to a world of white
The joy and wonderment light our faces with a warm glow
For the ground's fresh carpet of clean soft snow
Everything somehow seems free, new and alive
The world feels at peace and love spreads far and wide
As I traverse the diamonds beset with beads of pearl
I look to the Heavens and think "What a Wonderful World!"
And I make a snow angel and hear a song in the air
The song all creation's been singing that I love to hear
A song of hope and courage, of light and good cheer
Which makes me think of the prophets' and sages' contemplation
Of a love that bears all and offers us all this invitation
Mired in rags stained with filth and dirt though we be
Our misdeeds red as our faces, like blood running down a tree
As we embrace The Lamb, He clothes us with His wool and though
Our sins a study in scarlet, He transforms us whiter than snow.
.......................................................................................
(and yes, I have a couple of references to things within the poem too- like a famous Louis Armstrong song of course, a Sherlock Holmes story and "There's A Song in the Air" and "Angels from the Realms of Glory". :-))
And I should credit Rebekah Sewell for inspiring the "diamonds" line- brilliant. :-)

And this is really all for now. Hope everyone has a great week and I just love everyone today. And I really mean that- God loves me and because of His love, I love everyone. Because He loves everyone. And as Tiny Tim observed, God bless us, everyone! :-))

The "Good Ol' Days" and The Glorious Day

       Don't ask, "Why were the old days better than today?" It's not good to ask such things.... (see Ecclesiastes 7:10-18 and chapter 12).... As Acts 17:24-28 tells us, God set men and women in history at exactly when and where He wanted them to be for His purposes.... (which doesn't mean that God won't move you at some point too though ;-))- But part of finding our identity in Jesus as His follower means being happy with who God made us to be- boy or girl, Asian, Hispanic, Native American, Pacific Islander, African descent, Indian descent, Caucasian, mixed, etc., Spanish, Trinidadian, American, German, Swiss, South African, Ukrainian, Argentinan, Brazilian, Eritrean, Japanese, Chinese, Australian, Indian, Senegalese, Antarctican, etc.- whatever the social class- whatever other label we put on each other....... God made us above all those things in His image (Genesis 1:26-31). And when we're in Christ, none of those things matter anyway! (Galatians 2:20, Colossians 3:1-4, John 13:34-35, Galatians 3:25-29) And as Colossians 3:11 says, "Here there is no Gentile or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all, and is in all."
    We are all infinitely important and infinitely loved by God. (Jeremiah 31:3) And we are all valuable in His kingdom, where the elder learns to serve the younger and the younger cares for the elder- where each thinks of others as better than themselves and each seeks to love each other truly and forgive from the heart...
     No, these aren't the "good ol' days"- but as I like to say, the only good ol' days this planet has ever seen were Genesis 1-2. We won't have any more truly good ol' days until Revelation 21-22 come to pass. But Jesus makes the in-between time more abundant when we follow Him, as John 10:10 says. :-) And during our faith journey with Him, He shapes us to be more and more like Him in character and empowers us with spiritual gifts to bring a touch of The Divine to a fallen world so badly needing of redemption. To be sure, the final Redemption culminates with the coming of The Lord- but until then, we're like the Planeteers with our power rings, sent forth to bring God's restoration to the world through our love and good deeds and sharing of the Greatest Love of all shown to us on the cross and in the empty tomb (Romans 5:8). And way better than Captain Planet, and the Avengers who "have a Hulk"- we have Someone Real Who can do something about our situation (Hebrews 11:1-6)- we have a Savior- Jesus Christ- Whom we eagerly await to come back from Heaven! We have The One Who alone bears the title of King of Kings and Lord of Lords! We have The One God Who holds all things together and by Him all things exist!
    Like DC Talk said, "God is doing a nu thang"- through His followers- His agents of change upon the earth. (Habakkuk 1:5) And as Jesus said in Acts 1:8 (in essence)- The Power is yours! :-) (So use His gifts and be His witness in all the world.)