The Snowman - Raymond Briggs

Permit us, if you would, to allow this story out of season. We don't want to panic you but we will all be walking in the air in a short amount of time, but let's not dwell on that just yet. For those not familiar, here's the story of The Snowman.

A boy wakes up one morning to discover an overnight covering of deep snow. He sets about, like anyone in their right mind should, building a snowman. During the night - Christmas Eve no less - the Snowman comes to life!

Interestingly, this book has no words! It is purely beautiful illustrations, equally captured in the film (where we get the Walking in the Air song from). And it is here, in these gorgeous pages that we find a fundamental human truth laid bare, nothing in this life lasts.

This is, perhaps, the first time the Bible would whole heartedly agree with our human truth. Ecclesiastes tells us this;

“Meaningless! Meaningless!”  says the Teacher “Utterly meaningless! Everything is meaningless.” Ecclesiastes 1v2

The things of this world will grow dim and fade away. No matter how much we take care of them, how much we labour over them, how much we maintain them. Nothing on this earth will last. Just like the Snowman, everything is time limited. The Snowman is only here when it's cold enough for snow. The moment that sun hits, the snow is gone.

And this is great when it comes to trials and hardships in life. It's good to think of these as 'momentary troubles'. But it's much harder when it comes to the things we love. Our health. Our parents. Our children. These too, despite our love and affection, are momentary in the grand scheme of eternity. One day these too will melt away.

Indeed the Bible tells us that one day the entire world will be folded up like a piece of paper and put away in favour of a new, better world in which there will be no more tears or crying. And while this new world does sound wonderful, it is so hard to imagine such perfection that I am left with a little bit of grief over what I might lose in this process. Hope, despite the promise of something better, escapes me a little.

And here we find our Bible truth that answers our first Bible truth!

The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God endures forever.” Isaiah 40v8

I struggle with the limited and shortness of this world because I don't fix my eyes on Jesus. This verse tells me that God's word - Jesus - stands forever. All that He promises, all that He has built. All that He loves, all that He has been keeping stands. And nothing in all eternity past or all eternity future can ever destroy it.

So often I forget all that is to come. That this life, as C. S Lewis says as he finishes his epic tales of Narnia, was just the title page, the real adventure is yet to come.

This life, and all the blessings that carpet it like newly fallen snow, are wonderful, but they are not the main event. We need to make sure we are building our lives for eternity, not just the here and now. And we need to make sure that we are teaching our children to do the same.

None of that is to say that we can't enjoy life now. God is unbelievably gracious in that He doesn't hold back every joy in heaven until we get there. He gives us some of those things now. Small but overwhelming snapshots of what this new world will be like and He tells us to enjoy them. And by doing so we are enjoying Him. A gift is only fully given when the recipient enjoys it. If they just pop it in the cupboard and never look at it again the gift is wasted. And ultimately God wants us to have these pockets of gold now so that we are reminded of what is to come. If an imperfect sunset or the sin-spoiled view from a mountain top can bring me to tears now, how much more will the perfection of heaven in eternity to come?

The joys in this life are real and true. There is much to be enjoyed and rejoice in. So go out in your day and enjoy what God has blessed you with today. That coffee, that baby's smile, the last of the summer flowers. That loud and crazy family who live with you. In all that we do, we are all just building snowman for now, so build the kingdom first because that is building for eternity.

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The Snowman - Clay Story

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