The Smallest Snowflake

Christiana was the smallest of all the snowflakes. It seemed she and her family, along with many other snowflake families, had been floating always through the long day as she tumbled delightfully about with her friends. But their journey took them as well through seemingly endless freezing cold and darkness. Sometimes the north wind blew them along their way so hard she could scarcely breathe. At these times, as much as the bracing wind would permit, Christiana huddled close to her parents, Celeste and Chaucer, completely unaware that they were as uncomfortable as she.

At other times they were assailed by a gust of warmer air up in the atmosphere that threatened their very lives. Afraid, the little crystalline beauty would bow her minuscule head and cry. Celeste and Chaucer tried to shield and protect their little progeny as best they could.

Sometimes however, it was all they could do to hold on themselves. The beloved but naive little snowflake was oblivious to everything but observances from her youthful perspective and her own unreliable emotions and feelings. Life seemed to her a series of events: those that made her feel good, the ones she relished with great glee, and those that were so traumatic they drove her to despair. These ups and downs were punctuated with exasperating periods of sheer boredom.

Between the frigid wind that blew them, forcing them along in their descent to the earth, and their greatest foe, the warm counter-winds that swished by occasionally and threatened to dissolve them, the snowflake life was much more treacherous than observers might perceive it to be.

On their flight to the earth, the snowflake highs were very high indeed. It was almost like a symphony as they floated along together when none of their enemies were nearby. The sound of snowflake laughter and singing were delightful to the ear. But, as quickly as they had begun, these delightful times became a memory, as worries and trials became their portion once more.

Each time these difficult periods came 'round again, the music ceased and tension, fear, and strife shoved aside the joy and began to rule. Christiana and her peers lived only for the times of joy, pouting and resisting those that kept them from their fun. At one particularly dark and trying hour, Celeste and Chaucer, who had been on this flight much longer and had learned to take things more in stride, hovered near their lovely and delicate daughter. "How do you manage to remain so calm when our enemies are near?" Christiana asked.

"My dear", said her father, "When we began this journey, before you were born, the father of snowflakes, the one who formed us, spoke a promise for us to hold close to our hearts along the way."

"Long ago," he said, "because the snowflake journey is fraught with enemies, I sent my perfect snowflake to the earth. He made the same journey that all snowflakes make, but because of who he is, he defeated the foe of the snowflakes and took away his power. And, if you will but trust in him and in me, and keep us at the center of your hearts, and if you will remember that we are with you at all times, a special wind you haven't known will keep you safe, guiding you, teaching you, and giving you peace along your way. Then, no matter what tactic your enemy may use to try to destroy you, when your traveling days are done, you will make your landing in a new and better world. I myself will be there to welcome you. At that point your life here will be at an end, but you will have fulfilled your purpose and you will have joy, for from the clouds I will lift you up to myself once more as I did the perfect snowflake."

[ by Daphne Harrington (daphne@vm.cc.latech.edu) -- from 'Daily Wisdom' ]