So as I proceed to defend it, I must confess that I am a bit biased. I like snow. Not year round, mind you; but a month or two (maybe even three?), I’m fine with that. But someone may wonder, "Why? Why snow? What good possibly comes from it? And don’t say that spring comes from it, as if banging your head on a brick wall is justified by how good it feels to stop."Well, I would like to contend that God offers snow as an annual baptism – a re-telling of the need for the old to die, for the dead to be buried, and for new life to spring forth afresh. In the fall, things do just that: they fall. They fall down and die. They get raked, burned, or composted. That from which they fell looks lifeless. In the winter, these lifeless forms and their detachments are buried, in some places six inches under, in others six feed under. In the spring, things do just that: they spring. They spring forth, up, and out. They become green and look happy to be alive.
Still skeptical?
What is snow? It’s frozen water, it’s white, and it’s cold. God has shown in numerous times and ways that He brings new life and new creations out of water. "In the beginning … the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters" (Gen. 1:2). "And God said, ‘Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear:’ and it was so" (Gen. 1:9). Then God started over with Noah and his family after covering the entire earth with water (Gen. 6-9). Then God gave Israel a new start by leading them with a cloud and bringing them through the Red Sea (I Cor. 10:1-2). Then John the Baptist, Christ Himself, and the apostles called people to signify their testimony of new life in Christ by being baptized in water. And, of course, babies announce to the world that a new life has arrived not very long after "the water breaks." So there should be no surprise that particular parts of our world look freshly new and alive after the frozen water of winter has receded.
So perhaps the symbolism is beginning to make snow more attractive to you, until you wonder, "But why cold? Why so cold? What beauty is there in coldness?" Again, I think the coldness represents death or at least the confirmation of death. When a body dies, it becomes cold; and vice versa: when things become very cold, they die. At absolute zero (which is probably pretty cold), things become inanimate, they stop moving. We bury things that are dead. And if they weren’t completely dead when we buried them, they will be. Death is essential. Why?
Enter white. If whiteness symbolizes purity, then why is something so deadly so white? Well, sometimes to rid the impurities from an object of desire, you have to destroy those impurities. Chemotherapy and radiation are attempts to kill cancerous cells. The problem with this is that chemotherapy and radiation do not simultaneously (or even eventually) replace those corrupt cells with fresh healthy ones. Replenishment must come via some other means. If that does not happen, then the entire body may die. – This is, of course, another way of achieving purification: rather than attack the particular impurities within the desired object, destroy the entire object itself – purification by death. When a field is covered with snow, no impurities are visible: no weeds, no bugs, nut’in’.
"But, but, -," you say, "but there’s nothing alive either! Yeah, there may not be any impurities visible, but neither are there any signs of life visible … in a field covered with snow or in a man consumed by chemotherapy. It may be pure now, but it’s dead. What good is that?"
Granted. But my point still stands. Purification, even if it’s by death, is still purification and can thus be symbolized by whiteness. But, given the overall picture, your point is still valid. "If there be no resurrection of the dead, then is Christ not risen: And if Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain. … For if the dead rise not, then is not Christ raised: And if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins. Then they also which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished. If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable." – 1 Cor. 15:13-19
But baptism with snow in winter happens at the beginning of the year. There is yet a resurrection in spring which we eagerly anticipate and plan to celebrate. But first, the dirty old man must die and become cold. And if he still twitches now and then after death, the coldness of burial will ensure that he completely dies. The world is now a bit purer, being cleansed from all unrighteousness. But remember: that is not the end of the story; it is only the beginning.
"Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit" (John 12:24). "Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new" (2 Corinthians 5:17).
And God graciously heaps upon us His reminder of this every year.
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