We just had our second snow of the winter. That’s a huge deal in Georgia. Many winters we don’t get any, and very rarely does it snow twice.

I love waking up and seeing a blanket of snow covering my yard, the street, everything. And it’s not just because I get a day off from work. I love how amazing and beautiful it all is.

To me, there aren’t many things in nature more beautiful than a fresh, undisturbed snowy landscape. All of the rough edges of nature are smoothed over, and everything looks absolutely perfect. The perfectionist in me wants it to remain that way until the sun melts it, but sadly that usually doesn’t happen. Animals, people, vehicles all leave thir marks in the snow.

I always hesitate when I look out the back door of our house and see a flawless snowscape beyond. I know the dog needs to go outside, but I don’t want to leave any footprints through the yard. The evidence is there, and it will stay there as long as the snow is there. I don’t want to turn the perfectly covered scene into a slushy, muddy mess. But it inevitably happens. Every time.

So this morning, as I stood outside with my dog with my hands going numb, I gained a new understanding to Isaiah 1:18: “Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow.”

The symbolism behind snow I get on the basic level. Snow symbolizes purity, so the idea is that sins become pure, or the people who commit the sins become pure. It’s being forgiven. Today added a new level to my understanding though.

We all start with a fresh blanket of snow, clean and pure. Unfortunately, we sin, and we essentially drag footprints through the snow, and they can’t be erased. No matter how hard we may try, the perfection is ruined. We can brush other snow over it, but it’s still obvious what’s there: a slushy, muddy mess.

Unless it snows again.

If you make footprints in the snow, you can’t do anything about it yourself, but if more snow follows, then eventually the footprints disappear and are covered completely. Suddenly, you can’t see them, and it’s as if they were never there to begin with.

That’s what God does for us. We can’t do anything to erase our sins, but God can. Our sins are covered so much in the blood of Jesus that we can’t see them anymore.

It’s as if they were never there to begin with.