The amount of snow we have received lately has either kept me outside shoveling, clearing, plowing, salting, or generally just admiring the snow. I admired the muffled outdoor sounds under a fresh comforter of snow. I enjoyed the smell of fresh snow and the sight of sky and distant land mingling into undeterminable beginning and end. I delighted in looking at individual snowflakes to see each unique and intricate design. My favorite part of the blizzard was the transformation the land underwent and turned into a new landscape of winter beauty. That image reminded me of God’s unrelenting and unending grace.
Several times throughout the snowy days, I would look around me in amazement and delight at the mass quantity of snow accumulating, and I kept thinking this is what God’s grace looks like. His grace covers the offense and makes a thing of beauty. His grace covers the weakness and makes it strong. His grace changes the hurt into hope and healing.
In one cubic foot there are around one billion snowflakes. I was looking up other measurements to satisfy my curiosity about snowflakes and their impressive congregating numbers. The place value quintillion kept showing up. My brain has a hard time comprehending that number, so I looked up some visuals using pennies to try to grasp the quantity. Once again, I thought of God’s grace.
Whether it’s the first time or the ten thousandth time that we are recipients of God’s grace, it astounds us to His depth of love and faithfulness. In 2 Timothy 2:13, it says, “If we are faithless, he remains faithful, for he cannot disown himself.” God will never tire of pouring out upon His children what He is made of.
God is love. God is forgiveness. God is faithfulness. God is patience. God is peace. God is kindness. God is plenty and provision. God is comfort. God is mercy. God is justice. God is wisdom and power. God is beauty. God is trust. God is all.
God will never leave us of forsake us. We don’t deserve God pouring Himself out upon us. At no time can we ever earn any of His qualities. But because He loves Jesus and He loves us, by no work or “perfection” of our own, He delights to transform us and abide with us. He wants His dwelling place to be a glorious place, not for our benefit, but because He deserves it. Everything in us ought to cry holy, holy, holy, He alone is worthy. What a masterpiece of beauty our lives can be because of His grace.
Much like it’s impossible to truly grasp how far and wide 5 quintillion snowflakes cover, it’s impossible to grasp how far-reaching, covering, transforming, and never-ending is God’s grace for us.
