Why I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas

Where I'm from, Christmas sometimes looks rather green.
Last year, if I recall correctly, it was rainy and about 50 or 60 degrees outside.
I'm a winter baby, and a natural snow lover, so this is rather disappointing to me.
On Saturday the 23rd, we got our first snowfall of the season.
It had been in the 60's and 70's off and on for a few weeks, so this was a surprise.
On that same day, I met with one side of my extended family for Christmas.
That sounds really random right now, but I promise all of this will tie together as the story unfolds.
I was running on little sleep, and was more sarcastic and hard edged than I normally am all day.
I don't know if anyone noticed it but me, but I knew my heart was not right, and I knew it hadn't been for awhile.
As we were celebrating Christmas, the snow was melting outside, revealing all of the dead plants, and ending in an overall less pretty sight.
That night, when I was thinking about the events of the day,  I realized just some of the sins in my life that have been seemingly controlling me lately.
I realized how selfish I've become, how prideful I am, how cowardly I've been, how I've been pushing God away... And I felt really guilty.
It hurt to realize everything I had been ignoring for so long.
As I was hurting, the chorus of an old hymn came to mind:

Jesus paid it all,
All to Him I owe;
Sin had left a crimson stain,
He washed it white as snow

I just couldn't seem to stop singing that over and over again as I went to sleep.
I thought about what Christmas celebrates, the birth of the Savior of the world, and what He was sent for.
It's easy to just go through the motions of each holiday season, and rush through everything.
It's easy to forget why we're celebrating, even though deep inside we all know.
It's hard to truly be thankful for that first Christmas when we don't realize just how dirty we are in sin, and how white He makes us.
Yesterday, I woke up to snow covering everything outside.
And as I looked out my bedroom window, with a huge smile on my face, I remembered what I couldn't stop singing the night before.
It was as if God was saying to me, "I know you don't look that pretty inside. I know all of your sin and shame. But I sent my son to make you as pure and as white as this snow. This is how you look to me."
And that's what Christmas is really all about.
It celebrates how, though we don't deserve it at all, God has made us children of the light through His only son.
The snow is a beautiful reminder of that.
So this Christmas, remember that you are made as pure and as white as the snow.
Even if you hate snow with everything in you, and can't wait for the warm weather to return, just take a moment to enjoy the beauty of it all.
Take in how pure and white it is, and remember...

Sin had left a crimson stain...
But He washed it white as snow.

Merry Christmas, friends.