Don’t get me wrong, the subzero temperatures and the hours spent shoveling aren’t things I love. In fact, if asked, I’d say that I wasn’t at all fond of the winter. But one thing I admire about the winter season is its ability to give fresh starts. Just like in life, a fresh start is always a good thing on occasion. The winter, snow in particular, is a flawless model of unspoiled newness. Throughout the year, in the spring, summer and fall seasons, the earth is beat up. It faces droughts, floods, natural disasters, all things that affect the earth in a negative way. These disasters, just like the rough patches in our lives affect us.  Sometimes, we just need a fresh start. A clean slate.

Usually, in the months of November or December, you wake up one day with a sheet of white covering the ground. This snow erases the flawed ground, giving the terrain a new beginning.  The snow hitting the ground in the late months of the year serve as a perfect metaphor, symbolizing new beginnings.  When the snow melts, in the early March days, fresh ground emerges.  Snow, and the winter season in all, are just like baptism.

Baptism symbolizes the leaving of the old, and the beginning of the new.  When a new-born Christian is immersed into the lukewarm water, his or her sins are “washed off”, leaving behind all of the tragedies of life.  This is a perfect comparison to the snow that covers the ground.   When the Christian is risen out of the water, they are given a new beginning.  A clean slate.  The baptized Christian is free from his of her old ways, able to create a new identity for themselves.  This is just like the snow melting in early March, uncovering the new terrain.  The snowfall means much more than subzero temperatures and numerous hours of shoveling.

Even though winter isn’t my favorite, for this reason, I don’t think it’s that bad.