The Single Snowflake
It’s snowing today. For nearly half of the country, it’s snowing a lot. My back is living proof—after shoveling more than a foot of snow just to make sure I can get my car out of the driveway tomorrow.
This week, I read a story that made me look at the snow a little differently. Snow became the reference point for beauty and unmistakable uniqueness. Specifically, the uniqueness of every single snowflake. The story centered on a young girl who could see through the fog of daily life and into the sacredness of daily living. She noticed a single person, a quiet opportunity, or a small work of God for its beauty easily missed in a world obsessed with the bigger picture.
When the world sees the snow, a few among us see the snowflakes. They notice and feel what most pass by. That led me to wonder: What is it that I see that others miss? And maybe more importantly, what does God see that we so easily overlook—but could notice if we slowed down and asked Him to show us?
Snowflakes begin as water vapor in the atmosphere when temperatures drop below freezing. As that vapor condenses and freezes, tiny ice crystals form. Each snowflake’s journey through the cloud is shaped by changing temperatures, humidity, and atmospheric conditions. No two journeys are the same, and as a result, no two snowflakes share the same growth story.
While all snowflakes start as simple hexagonal prisms, their intricate branches and patterns emerge from the chaotic environment they pass through. Even snowflakes that appear identical to the naked eye differ at the molecular level.
Wow. Isn’t that just like God—to be so specific, so attentive, so deeply involved in forming something as small and short‑lived as a snowflake? The detail, the care, the intentionality! The conditions must be just right—much like they are for the formation of each one of us.
And then there’s the chaos. The very storms a snowflake passes through are what give it its distinct shape. I’ve watched friends and family walk through seemingly similar storms, yet the lessons, the growth, and the transformation all look different. No two people are formed the same way. We can’t even experience the same event in the same way sitting side by side. God understands the beauty He is creating in each life.
For each of us - the process of living is different. What binds us together is the love of our Creator, who is painting a much larger portrait. Like the snow we see, walk through, play in, and shovel aside, the cumulative effect of God’s deliberate creation becomes the humanity we often rush past.
We can choose to simply move people aside—or we can choose to see each one as a specific, intentional creation, worthy of our attention, even if only for a moment.
So let me ask you: What snowflake are you equipped to see? What corner of life has God gifted you to notice through the clutter—to see the beauty of one part within the whole?
No two snowflakes are alike, and I believe no two callings are either. God has placed within each of us an instinct, a sensitivity, a pull toward something—or someone—through which we can reflect His love to the world.
As the snow falls today, take a moment to look at just one flake. It might land on your jacket or glove, or cling briefly to a window frame.
That snowflake is you.
Uniquely created. Beautiful in your design. One piece among many—yet made to serve a purpose.
Made on purpose.
Sit with that for a moment as you stay warm on this snowy Sunday.
-Mark