snow_globe

The Snow Globe, by Gini Kittle

During our family get-togethers over the holidays, I try to find a fun craft for us to do. This year it was making homemade snow globes. This involved acquiring a collection of little jars, gathering an assortment of small objects (such as animals, evergreens, and snowmen), and buying the other supplies — distilled water, epoxy glue, and lots of glitter.

For my snow globe, I used a cute little penguin and a lot of glitter. It is the snow that makes a snow globe so pretty (that’s why I put so much in mine). There is so much snow in mine that my cute little penguin easily becomes obscured in its whirling cloud.

When I showed it to my two grandchildren, Jonas and Ellie, I was overjoyed with their response to it. Over and over again, I shook my snow globe for them and they watched in awe as the snow hid the cute little penguin from view. It was as if I could magically make him disappear and then slowly reappear!

During the Christmas season, I’ve found my life can too easily become like my little penguin in the snow globe. Sometimes there’s so much going on during the holidays that I can lose sight of the most important things. In the never-ending whirl of things that need to be done and places I need to go, I can forget the importance of what Christmas is really all about.

What can we do when the whirling business of this season begins to cloud our heart like that snow globe? How can we regain the vision of what is really important? With my snow globe, all I have to do is set it down for a minute, and that’s exactly what God tells us to do in Psalm 46:10, “Be still, and know that I am God.” If we will pause what we’re doing and quiet our hearts in His presence, the whirling cloud of commitments and tasks will sink to the ground and allow us to focus on the Lord — the One for whom the season is named!