Easter Snow in Pandemic

What a strange, sad, somber Easter we celebrated this year.

Our churches stayed empty and cold. Our families stayed away.

And, if you are in Colorado like me, you must remembered that it snowed. The day was grey and overcast, and the snow fell on and on.

It was such a quiet day at our house. I kept looking out at the snow, watching it slowly cloak everything in a soft white covering. And this verse kept coming to my mind: “Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow,” Isaiah 1:18.

It seemed the snow, and the quiet, and that verse kept whispering something to me.

And then, the next day, the sun came out. I looked out my window and it looked like thousands of tiny diamonds or stars were sparkling in the bright light–so hopeful and joyful.

So the snow kept speaking to me.

I sat down to tty capture my thoughts, and what came out was a poem.

And now, the memory of that Easter is brightened for me, redeemed in a sense, by the thoughts in the poem.

So I want to share it with you, in hopes it might encourage you as well.

I hope it might give you something to put together in your heart with the images of that day, giving your memories a little more joy.

Easter Snow in Pandemic

The tomb stood full when the sun expired
Darkness pressed heavy upon their grief–
His men and women, cut-off and so tired,
sheltered and shut-in, isolated by fear,
they’d no hope that dawn would restore belief.

Now we are sheltered in every place.
We mask our anxiety, fearing to breathe.
Infected droplets, if only a trace,
threaten death with a ventilator–alone.
We all must stay home and dare not to leave.

In the cold, before light, the women crept
and found His tomb, broken open and bare–
only more loss in the place where He slept.
‘Til and angel in white blinding like snow,
laughed, “He is not here; He is risen–now, go!”

They joy, oh, what joy. Clear sunlight and life.
Hope like diamonds was born in the night.

At my house, dawn came–mist-like and somber.
Silence and emptiness shrouded us ’round.
As we quietly gazed at the grey cloud-cover,
our arms ached for love, our faces for another.
But our church stayed cold and snow touched the ground.

As morning wore on, snow gently drifted
laying softly upon each blade, tree, and height–
Inexorable. Gentle. Luminous. Clean.

The snow came on like absolute grace,
saying, shame, burning hot–all crimson and stains,
is quelled in love’s brilliance and leaves not a trace.

The snow sang a song swelling, though quiet and still:
“Though your sins are like scarlet, I wash you white,
‘Til glistening before me you stand in my light.”

Today, I look out at Easter’s provision–
carpets and garlands of white, pristine snow,
greet a morning of blue and bright heavens.
And as the sunbeams light up the snow in all places,
the tiny flakes sparkle–snow-stars abound–
as if a jeweler tossed diamonds joyfully around.

So His Son bled love, red and hot in the sun
for the sheltered on Easter and those having it rough,
that grace, like bright snow, might fall on each one–
and each, like a diamond, unique and hard-pressed,
might shine in the morning in the blaze of His love.

Hope like diamonds was born in the night.

April, 2020.