Since I live in the Northeastern portion of the United States, the end of last week featured a fairly common wintertime event – snow!

Snow is an amazing form of precipitation.  It’s a frozen liquid, with very cool crystalline structure to it.  Snowflakes take on numerous forms, varying sizes and shapes, and can feel both dry and wet.

Granted, snow can be a major pain.  It can get very heavy, especially after a plow comes by and piles it up at the end of your driveway.  It can be a hazard on the road as it falls, reducing visibility to dangerously low levels.  It is cold, can soak right through your shoes when you stand in it too long, and if you are not a fan, can be quite unpleasant overall.

Whether you see snow as a beauty or a nuisance, there is no denying it is a part of the wondrous world around us.

Have you ever noticed how snow is like a downy blanket covering the top of a mountain, or stretching across a field?  And when you stop and look at the individual flakes, isn’t the crystalline structure intricate and inspiring?

Another very cool aspect of snow is how it opens up imagination, in especial in children.  Where you might see a snowbank left from plowing, a child sees a potential snow fort!  Snow can be molded into pretty amazing forms, from snowballs to snowmen to sculptures and fantastical creatures.

As a child, I grew up in the upper Midwest of the Unites States, and we spent pretty much December through March with constant snow coverage.  I remember endless hours sledding down snowy hills, snowball fights, building snowforts and snowcastles.  I had one of those block kits, where you could scoop snow into a rectangular plastic bucket, and make snow bricks!  When I got older, I took up skiing, both downhill and cross country, taking advantage of snow covered hills and fields.

Then there is that really cool effect when the snow is coming down, and you are driving along it.  And as the flakes fly past the windshield, it feels as though you are in hyperspace or traveling at warp speed, stars flying past you faster than light.  It’s not hard to imagine that all that’s missing is Chewbacca sitting beside you growling about outrunning the Imperials.

Stand outside during a snowfall, and you can feel this incredible stillness, as though Gaia herself is holding her breath.  You can hear the gentle crackling of snow landing upon the ground, and feel the flakes on your skin dry and cold, turning damp as your body heat melts them.

Snow is just another part of the wondrous world in which we live.  For all its hazards and negative connotations, I defy you to not wonder at its amazing structure and multi-faceted forms.