God spoke to Job, “Have you considered the storehouses of the snow?”  Job 38:22

In northwest Ohio where I live, January is usually our coldest month, complete with snow, ice and freezing temperatures.  There is a beauty in a snowstorm that folks living in warmer climates never experience.  God asked Job if he had considered the storehouses of the snow.  Storehouses, you ask?  Yes!  There was a man named “The Snowflake Man,” born in 1865 in Vermont, who was fascinated with snowflakes.  His name was Wilson Bentley.  He first became interested in snow crystals as a teenager on the family farm.  The farmers in his area dreaded the winter, but Wilson loved it!  He described snowflakes as “tiny miracles of beauty” and snow crystals as “ice flowers.” 

When Wilson was fifteen, his mother gave him a microscope from which he was able to draw snowflakes before they melted.  Later, he acquired a camera and perfected a process of catching flakes on black velvet, then capture the image before they disappeared.  His father and brother never appreciated the work he did.  They thought it was a waste of time and he should get busy with the business of farming!  In his lifetime, he would photograph more than 5000 images of crystals.  His pictures were so beautiful that hardly anyone else bothered to photograph snowflakes for almost 100 years!  He never found two snowflakes alike!  In 1931, Bentley published his book, Snow Crystals, illustrated with 2500 photographs.  Several weeks later, while walking home during a snowstorm, Wilson contracted pneumonia and died.  Today, his book is still in print for us to enjoy!

Here are some interesting facts about snowflakes:

• They are not frozen raindrops, that’s called “sleet.”  Snowflakes are a cluster of hundreds of ice crystals that fall from the clouds.  Their size and shape is determined by cloud temperature and humidity.  The colder the air, the more intricate the snowflake will be.  More elaborate snowflakes grow when the humidity is high. “He spreads the snow like wool and scatters the frost like ashes,”  Psalms 147:16
• The average snowflake falls at a speed of 1-6 feet per second. “….Lightning and hail, snow and clouds, stormy winds that do His bidding,”  Psalms 147:16
• All snowflakes God creates have six-sides, or arms. As the ice crystal grows, water freezes onto its six corners, causing a unique design, yet still a six-sided shape.
• No two snowflakes are exactly alike! Because of their individual path to earth, atmospheric conditions result in different growth rates and shapes.
• Snow is an excellent noise reducer! During a fresh snowfall, air becomes trapped between the individual snow crystals, this reduces vibration.
• Guinness World Records reports the largest snowflake ever recorded was 15 inches wide!

Nothing is whiter than snow, but did you know that each snowflake forms around a tiny piece of dust!  It reminds me of people; man was formed from the dust of the earth.  We are all different, with the exception of identical twins, no one has the same DNA!  We are made in the image of God, so like the snowflakes, we’re similar in some respects, but all different in the eyes of God.  Like the snowflakes, our core, or heart is dirty and full of sin.  Jesus wants to cleanse us of our sin and make us clean on the inside.  He wants to make us whiter than snow!  “Wash me and I will be whiter than snow!”  Psalms 51:7. 

 Have you considered the storehouses of the snow?

Your friend, Jean