It’s snowing outside as my Christmas vacation draws to a close. I glance out my window and marvel at a white, wintry paradise. Behind me, in our living room, I hear the steady crackle of a warm fire in the stone fireplace. For one fleeting moment, I can almost imagine that I’ve stepped through C.S. Lewis’s wardrobe into the happy land of Narnia, that I’m having tea and cakes with Mr. Tumnus, and that Mr. and Mrs. Beaver are telling me stories of the great lion Aslan. It is a lovely scene.
Then I blink, and I’m home again.
Snow, in all its splendor, has the power to stoke the fires of our imaginations. Perhaps you have watched a snowfall and have found yourself at the Pass of Caradhras with Gandalf the Grey or braving the Ice Prairies with Janner Wingfeather. Maybe you’re reminded of Alonzo Wilder trudging through the cold to school in Farmer Boy, or of Clark Davis searching for Marty during the blizzard in Love Comes Softly. The Bible provides us with even more fodder for the imagination, like when God speaks of His “treasures of the snow” which He reserves for war in Job 38:22-23, or when Isaiah speaks of Christ washing our sins “as white as snow” in Isaiah 1:18. Snow often brings to mind images of beauty for many of us. But why is that?
This mysterious allure of snow leads us to ponder the nature of beauty itself. While science can attempt to explain why people find certain things attractive or unattractive, there is no explanation or formula that can define beauty itself. It remains a mystery, though we have been trying to understand it for thousands of years. Where can we even start?
Some people understand beauty as mere attraction. When we say that a person is beautiful, we usually mean that the person is physically appealing in some way. But true beauty is not so arbitrary. In fact, it is one of the attributes of God Himself.
When we look through the Scriptures, we are reminded of the fact that God’s beauty is synonymous with His goodness. God is beautiful because He is good. And from the start, no one needed to define goodness and holiness for God. He knows what is good because He is good by nature. This has always been true and will always be. And in His eyes, whatever is good is also beautiful.
This understanding should completely change our understanding of beauty. Everything that God has given humanity is beautiful, because His gifts are good. Nothing should be called beautiful because it is attractive, but because it is a good gift from God.
To me, snow's beauty comes from its ability to spark our imagination and remind us of God's goodness, if we accept it. It is one of His many gifts for us to enjoy, as is the imagination that He gave each one of us. And if we look closely—if we put in a little effort—we can see Him.
And this is why the snow is beautiful.