FRESH-fallen snow is a visual medium used by God to soften and elevate the harshness of this world. It has a purpose that is solely aesthetic and solely a message of benevolence and love. Imagine if black chunks of ice fell from the sky. Given the dirty layers of atmosphere that water must travel through before it hits the ground, it is a wonder it is not black.
Snow is pure white, so white it suggests innocence and ignorance of all that is dark. A 19th-century farm, as in this painting by Thomas Birch, would not be so idyllic without this white fluff covering mud and old farm implements, animal debris and dead weeds. The white contrasts so well with the ocean of blue above. An artist did this. Birch is merely rendering the truth before his eyes.
Snow transforms ugly city neighborhoods into quaint villages. An old factory becomes a castle. A stark rowhouse becomes a home in a European lane where everyone knows everyone else. A broken sidewalk becomes a path through the woods. You can almost hear sleigh bells in the quiet as snow absorbs and obscures the sound of engines. It is not just a visual medium, but an acoustic one as well.
The many hassles and problems snow creates, the discomfort and the labor, are just reality. Everything comes at a price. Even the greatest gifts remind us of that.
But there is a world where snow comes and goes, and it brings with its silent descent only peace and joy. A civilization has fallen. A world has vanished, but the village reappears. Innocence is restored. Mercy and justice cascade from the sky. We must always keep before us the message of snow. One of the highest purposes of the human artist is to tell us the truths we only momentarily glimpse.
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