GLIMPSES OF GOD 2026

GLIMPSE OF GOD FOR THE WEEK OF JANUARY 25, 2026

This glimpse is that of the spirituality that snow can represent. It’s snowing and has been for several hours. As I look out our sunroom windows, I am being given the gift to behold the beautiful blanket of snow that is covering our yard, along with the trees, bushes, pool, and outdoor winter decorations.  I like the beauty of the snow. I think snow is a gift that God gives us during the winter months to refresh our spirit and open our mind. We can complain about it, tolerate it, ignore it, use it to pray with, or allow it to bring out the joy from within us as we remember our childhood and playing in the snow. How do we , how can we pray with snow?

What is the spirituality of snow or how can snow be a Glimpse of God? Let me throw out a few of my insights: Although we can use snow to bring joy and fun to others, as in building a snowperson together or having a friendly snowball fight, we can also use it to control

another, as in shoveling our snow into someone else’s way to hinder them from getting around or not shoveling for someone who is unable to do it for them self and thus isolating them even further. So, for some snow can be a gift that is received with gratitude, or it can be seen as a burden and heavy cross to be carried. The gift can be the beauty of snow or more importantly the unconditional love that God has for each of us and how He wants us to recognize that love despite any cross or sin that we are experiencing.

I believe that as each snowflake is unique and all are different from each other, so are we as God’s greatest creation. There is only one you. Your fingerprint, your footprint, your heart, and soul are God’s unique gift created to shine and reflect His great love. I believe that just as a snowflake is whole and pure as it falls from the sky, God also created us and sent us into this world as a pure creation. But because original sin entered our life and sin still is a part of life, we become pure and whole again through our baptism and the regular reception of the sacrament of reconciliation. God knows our heart and our weaknesses and has given us the gift of reconciliation so when we choose to sin and want to be reconciled and made whole, we can be.

Just as snow is often shoveled so that we are able to walk or drive more safely, we have the ability to shovel or move that which tempts us into sin and places us on the path that is not safe for us as we walk on our spiritual journey. When we surrender our will to God or when we pray to avoid sin, we are given the grace to symbolically shovel, or use a snow blower, the temptation out of our way and make a path that clear and safe. The path will not always be smooth, there may be some rocky or pebbly parts to it, but just as snow can continue to fall, so too does temptation and even when it falls on our path, it is with faith, hope and trust in Christ, that He will make the path safe and clear. We measure snow in inches and feet. When we hear about how much will fall, we then begin to become rattled and panic.  We hear about the numbers and how we can go from a large snowfall to a blizzard. When we hear these things and become rattled, do we ever think about our spiritual life? Have we at some point gone from a spiritual snowfall to a blizzard? What did that look like? Did it occur after we were given some challenging health news, where we thought that we had everything; our emotions, our outlook, our plan, under control to becoming out of control because of fear, anxiety or depression and we felt overwhelmed? We talk about the impact that the snow has or will have on our commute to work on school closings, businesses being open, or appointments being kept. Do we panic when we think of how much sin affects us and our relationship with God and others? Do we ever talk about the impact that sin has on us, or how the graces of God affect our relationship with God, others, and our self? How the impact of sin or grace helps us to become our best self, the person that God created us to be and have the potential to become? I believe that snow, even when it is a burden to bear or a grace to behold, can be a glimpse of God and an instrument to recognize how even when it becomes slushy and messy, it still, like us due to sin, is a gift from God and no sin or slush is ever going to make God regret or love us less.

As we begin new week covered with snow, let us look at snow with the eyes of our heart, mind, soul, and spirit, and seek to recognize that even in the midst of its accumulation, impact, beauty or burden, it is, as we are, a gift from God given so that we can recognize His presence in new and surprising ways.

SUNDAY – Every snowflake is unique and different.

You are unique, different, chosen by God, created in His image, His greatest creation, His beloved child, and unconditionally loved. There will never be or has there ever been another you. Do you, are you able to recognize how special and beloved you are to God and others? by your unique perspective, the way you see to the heart of another, by your ability to see the face of Christ in another and not judge them, by your presence in silence, compassion, and mercy? God has given you these gifts so that as others recognize them in you and through your example, they see that it is God dwelling within you, and His Holy Spirit shing through you.  You invoke a desire from within them to be more God like, more Christ like and thus becoming their best self, the person that God created them to be and have the potential to become.

MONDAY – A snowflake falls as a whole and pure creation.

God doesn’t create anything unclean or impure. It is humanity that makes things impure or tainted. It was at our baptism when we were immersed into the passion, death, and resurrection of Christ, that we were healed and made whole again. Original sin was removed and replenished with the unconditional, eternal, and selfless love of Christ. It is through that love that we are given the ability to be reconciled and made pure again on this earthly journey. Christ did not place a task on us that we cannot fulfill. Reconciliation, mercy, healing, and wholeness is available to us if we choose to take advantage of it, through the loving gift of the sacrament of reconciliation. Although sin entered the world through Adam and Eve, mercy fills the world through Christ and the sacraments of the Church. As the snow gently covers creation in white, and hides that which may be unsightly, it can remind us of how God covers our sins as with a blanket, with the warmth of His love, mercy, peace and joy.

TUESDAY – Snow is shoveled to make a path that is safe and clear to walk on.

We can try to shovel the snow, but the reality is that when it is too heavy or wet, we need more than a shovel, we need a snow blower. As with snow, we can shovel it to move it so that we can walk a straight, clean, and safe path, with sin it is not that easy. If we think that we can fix our problems, justify our sins, blame others for our choices, then we have past the spiritual shovel stage and gone to a snow blower. When we can recognize our sinfulness and seek forgiveness, when we ask God to help make our path straight, clean, and safe again, He does. It is when we seek to do things on our own, our sins only grow, as does our ego, pride, self-centeredness, and blindness.  As these increase, and our humility decreases and we find that we are unable to ask for God’s help to make our path straight, clean and safe, we need God’s mercy more than ever. God can never love us less because of our sinfulness. He gave us His Son Jesus and Jesus proved this by dying on the cross. He died for you and me, we are not exempt from His redeeming act of selfless love. So even when you think it is time to bring out the spiritual snowblower because the snow, or your sin is too heavy, remember that Jesus took away the need for the snowblower. He gave us the cross instead and it is through the cross that we can see the direction or path that He wants us to walk.

WEDNESDAY - Snow is measured as it accumulates beginning in inches and then feet.

We measure snow in inches and feet. When we hear about how much will fall, we then begin to become rattled and panic. Do we become rattled when we cannot experience peace, harmony, or joy or when we become more afraid, self-centered, ashamed or guilt ridden? Do we think that we can measure the graces from God in inches of feet or are we able to recognize how God does not measure our worth according to our weaknesses or sin but in and out of love?

THURSDAY – The impact that the snow has on our life

We talk about the impact that the snow has or will have on our commute to work on school closings, businesses being open, or appointments being kept. Do we panic when we think of how much sin affects us and our relationship with God and others? Do we ever talk about the impact that sin has on us, or how the graces of God affect our relationship with God, others, and our self? How the impact of sin or grace helps us to become our best self, the person that God created us to be and have the potential to become?

FRIDAY – Having fun in the snow.

If you can’t build a snowman, snowwoman, snowchild or snow pet, try to remember what it was like when you were a child and how you built a snowman as soon as you could no matter how cold it was outside. How much fun you had, what your snowperson ended up looking like, who helped you, what you used for his eyes, nose, ears, hands, and outfit. Snow is a gift that is a beauty to behold, and you don’t have to be outside to enjoy it or be annoyed by it. Beauty is in the eyes of the beholder, and if we are willing to and open to recognizing the beauty of snow, we are then willing and open to recognizing God’s presence in the snow.

SATURDAY- The 6 points of a snowflake remind us of the story of creation.

The story of creation tells us that God rested on the 7th day after He creation had been completed and it was good. As with the story of Creation, God created Adam and then Eve so that one would not be alone, and then God rested. The snowflake has 6 points. I would like to see each point as a day of creation. With each point one can use each day in the story of creation as a reflection on, how through creation, God did not make any mistakes, or do things haphazardly, but rather all was planned and when completed He saw that all was good. We are a part of “all was planned, all was good.” No matter what we have done or do or will do, God does not regret creating us nor does He want us to regret being created. We are where He wants us to be, doing what He wants us to do. Although the path or the view may not be clear, in and through His grace, we will see more clearly His will for us, one step, one prayer, one act of love, mercy, and kindness at a time. There is a Zen proverb that states” a snowflake never falls in the wrong place” What does that mean to you

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