An Unexpected Pleasure

About a month ago, during another typical snowstorm in Minneapolis, I went outside for a walk a little after dark. The roads were covered with a good layer of snow already as it continued snowing. Now, I've learned during my first winter here in Minneapolis that it snows at least once a week throughout all of winter, but this time it was quite special. Why? The snow under the streetlights was the sparkliest snow I have ever seen (the phone camera does not do it justice). It was a Friday evening, I was extremely exhausted from a week of grueling school, and all I really wanted to do was go to bed. However, that night, I found myself giggling with glee like a lunatic outside in the dark staring at the crystal-laden path ahead of me.

Today, I finally discovered why scientifically it was so sparkly. According to the NOAA website, snowflakes form thin needle-like arms when the temperature is closer to freezing point, but they form flat plate-like crystals when it is 5 degrees. As an East-coast gal, I've never been in a snowstorm when it was 5 degrees, and in MN, it usually doesn't snow at 5 degrees because the air is too cold to hold much moisture. But this night, it was snowing in the single digits, so every single snowflake was like a little mirror, and I got to take a stroll on a path of diamonds.

 

It hadn't occurred to me then, but I wonder now what it will be like when we see the New Jerusalem and its streets of gold so pure that it is translucent, reflecting not streetlights, not sunlight, but the light of the glory of God. If I get this much glee from sparkly snow in the night under a few lonely streetlights, how much more infinite will my delight be in the new City?

"The street of the city was pure gold, like transparent glass... And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and its lamp is the Lamb." -Rev. 21