What does it all mean, anyway?

It is past midnight. I have been wandering from window to window to look at the fresh fallen snow. It snowed much of the day and there are about 4 inches of new snow on the ground. The last 2 inches fell after 10 pm so there are no doggie tracks in the back yard yet, only a few little bunny tracks in the front. What is it that makes me want to just stand and gaze at that fresh beauty? There is something mysterious about it, especially at night.

Those little bunny tracks fascinate me no end. Where are they going? What are they eating? How do they survive in that cold, wet world? Then I gaze across the street to the huge evergreen tree, all blanketed in snow. Critters live in there and I know they are well-sheltered by the blanketed branches. Somehow evergreens like that make me think of God. There is a mystery to them, they provide shelter and food and protection for many small beings, they withstand the elements, they seem to live forever, unchanged by the world around them. And they smell so good after a cleansing rain!

They also, of course, make me think of Christmas. We always had a fresh tree, except the year my middle brother was 2 years old. (I will write another time, about that.) I loved to lie on the floor under the tree and look up into the branches. I would gaze at the lights and look at each ornament and remember where it came from. It seemed the only time of year I had a real sense of being loved as a child. And that tree came to be a symbol of that love. To this day evergreens can evoke that sense of being loved, and of security, for me.