Why I Dream of a White Christmas
Thanks to Bing Crosby and Rosemary Clooney we all know how the song goes: “I’m dreaming of a white Christmas, just like the ones I used to know.…” I’m not going to pretend to know why this song sticks with all of us. What I do know is that on Thursday morning, when I woke up to snow on the ground, many of my Facebook friends were excited about having a white Christmas.
We’ve had an uncommonly dry and warm winter here in Nebraska (if you ignore the storm we got on Thanksgiving and Black Friday). I suspect this explains why so many were so excited about the light dusting of snow. Any other day of the year the white stuff is annoying—except Christmas.
I found myself contemplating why it didn’t feel like Christmas this year until it snowed. There are places where it would never snow on Christmas—and they still celebrate. It doesn’t actually change the holiday. So why did I find myself yearning for the stuff?
As I was worshiping during the Christmas Eve service at church it hit me.
“O precious is the flow
That makes me white as snow;
No other fount I know;
Nothing but the blood of Jesus.”
(Nothing but the Blood of Jesus, Robert Lowry, 1876)
We were singing carols and this hymn started playing through my mind. Sometimes in the midst of worship, God reminds us of other truths. I was thinking about the snow outside and the birth of my Savior. The snow outside on Christmas morning is a reminder of what makes us clean—what makes us pure as snow. The Christ child was born into a world that didn’t know it needed Him. And still He came to save us. To save me.
So I will continue to dream of a white Christmas and pray to be reminded of what makes me white as snow.
