Wilson "Snowflake" Bentley loved snowflakes, and devoted more than forty years to observing and photographing them.
The tiny frozen crystals fascinated him. He spent hours in snowstorms, equipped with black paper, microscope and camera, and took thousands of photographs.
But he never found two snowflakes that were exactly alike. Each snowflake was unique. Just like you.
Our Heavenly Father deliberately designed this world in such a way that frozen water forms perfect hexagonal crystals that look sharp to the touch--but melt instantly on contact with our skin. And each one is different.
In one of my life's darkest moments, I obeyed a prompting to go outside in the middle of the night. There on the redwood deck rail, lit by the porch light, sparkled a single layer of perfect snowflakes, like delicate crystal lace. I knew that tiny sprinkle of snow was just for me, a gift from a loving Heavenly Father, because no one else would ever see it.
In a moment of spiritual darkness, the Lord gave me the prismatic light of a latticework of glittering snow, and I knew that He was aware of me, and I knew how very deeply I was loved.
Every snowflake you will ever see is unique and beautiful, just like you. And since you are the only one who will ever see it, unless you're as clever with a microscope and camera as Snowflake Bentley, each is a gift, formed just for you, by a loving Heavenly father.
And that's today's reason to smile.