A good old Canadian Winter

This January feels like a real Canadian winter. Something I've missed here in BC. Over the 37 years I've lived here we've had tastes of winter every few years but usually it's rain, rain and more rain. I am so much enjoying the more frequent and extended periods of snow this year. It's not so cold that you can't bear it like it's been in Saskatchewan where Chris and Dave reported -54 C with the wind chill this past week! Here it's brought a quiet beauty.

It amazes me how I can tell without even getting out of bed if it has snowed overnight - just by listening. The world feels hushed, like it is waiting with bated breath for something special. Several times the the snow coated every surface, from the links and barbs on fences to the finest stems and twigs. I am in constant awe and wonder over a Creator Who can so delicately blanket every inch of nature and yet somehow maintain each item as a recognizable part of the whole.



Job 37 says "His Word thundering so wondrously, His mighty acts staggering our understanding. He orders the snow, 'Blanket the earth!' When blizzards roar out of the north and freezing rain crusts the land. It's God's breath that forms the ice, it's God's breath that turns lakes and rivers solid."

From Psalm 147: "He spreads snow like a white fleece, he scatters frost like ashes, He broadcasts hail like birdseed— who can survive his winter? Then he gives the command and it all melts; he breathes on winter—suddenly it's spring!" both passages from "The Message"

A Stellar's Jay so visible against the snowy branches