“To see a world in a grain of sand,
And a heaven in a wild flower,
Hold infinity in the palm of your hand,
And eternity in an hour.”
-William Blake

Whenever there has been a snowstorm I love to awaken early and sit quietly looking out the window at a world of white that appeared overnight. Everything has been wiped clean. Fresh snow blankets my world. I search the scene outside and find pristine places that are unspoiled and untouched by human hands and feet. I smile. The magnitude of this landscape washes over me as I gaze on its purity and this new birth.

I hear the words of William Blake – finding a world in a grain of sand. I am finding it in a snowflake.

Seeing something that has never been touched or tarnished by humanity transfixes me. I smile again, my mind wandering as I imagine the life of just one snowflake.

I want to wiggle around in the story I am creating in my imagination of the lifecycle of one snowflake. It is one ice crystal among trillions that has never come to earth before now, and one of an incalculable number yet to emerge. The vapor, water, warmth, cold and wind carry it thousands of miles to land outside my window. All for me, for the express purpose of awakening me to a new possibility, a new journey, a new eternity in one snowflake.

My eyes move again, searching for another patch of pristine snow. I suppose it’s not unlike my own journey. I realize as I write that my own yearning and searching is to find the place in me that is untouched, unspoiled, whole and innocent. Like this new vision of the world, my life is being made new through exploring my own anguish, despair, and suffering, and then, finally letting go, falling gently to earth – to home.

I saw my soul today outside my window. It is unlike any that has come to earth before now, and unlike any that is yet to come. On sad days I long to wash away the dirtiness and fingerprints left by others’ unkindness. So I wait while my own lifecycle unfolds – evolving, forming dazzling crystals through its own journey of vapor, water, warmth, cold and wind, trekking thousands of miles to awaken my own pure heart, born anew in the stillness of this moment.

Here is a short video of this post set to music and pictures. Enjoy!