**A simple devotional on God’s unconditional love

It was the type of morning where you dropped whatever you were doing.

You wake up the kids, open the blinds, and you finally see what you have been dreaming of all winter…

SNOW!

The last time it snowed in my city, was oh, about five years ago, and I mean really snowed. I think we got a thin sheet of ice between all that waiting.

And oh, it was beautiful. And it just kept coming down, shimmering white snowflakes, falling as fast as leaves and flowers on a windy day.

My kids were soooo excited!!! They could not get dressed fast enough.

And boy did they play. My daughter even told her granny all about her adventures for twenty minutes non-stop. Normally, it’s like grinding teeth to get this child to talk.

They threw snowballs, made snow angels, and slid down our steep hill bare-bottomed. (We do not have sleds in the south.)

We did everything we could because, in the south, snow melts faster than a popsicle on a summer day. And in fact, it pretty much had melted by the end of the day.

The next day…

You could barely tell it snowed, except for the evidence of a few muddled brown snowmen and the little crunch of snow that remained on our back porch.

But snow it did, and it was magical.

Wake up kids, stop what you’re doing, bundle up in the warmest clothes you can find, and get out there and play kind of magic.

Because the next day, in the south, you may be wearing shorts and tank tops.

Finding Treasure!

I said it was a magical day, right?

My daughter insisted she discovered something in our woods she had never seen before.

They walked up into our woods behind our house a little further than usual. (Don’t worry, we could see them and well, it was snow in the south, so you allow things you normally wouldn’t).

Anyway, my daughter saw some sort of pink marker that she insisted was treasure that could only be found in the snow.

Well, of course, it wasn’t, but that’s not really the point. And who am I to squelch the magical imagination of a seven-year-old?

After all, treasure can be many things to many people.

You only need to take a gander in my kids’ rooms to know that one man’s treasure is another man’s junk.

However, and this is where I go deep on you, the only true treasure you need to know is the unconditional love of God.

And like the snow revealing “treasure”, sometimes you just need a change of scenery or a change in perspective to see something new: To see the true treasure.

My daughter discovered her magical treasure in the snow-covered woods:

• Whether it was the magic in the air from the gentle fall of snowflakes
• The contrast of white against a pink tree marker
• Or the fact that they braved exploring further then they’d ever gone before.

The landscape had not changed. It was the same woods as always, just covered with snow.

No, what made the difference was the magic and imagination, and belief. My kids chose to believe the treasure was real.

Real life is no different.

We must choose to believe in the ultimate treasure. To accept that God’s love is unconditional. He is always there:

• Waiting
• Calling
• Beckoning

Will you have new eyes to see? And will you choose the magic that lies in our Heavenly Father? His arms are open to you always.

And like the rare shimmering snow in the south, Jesus offers something even more beautiful:

God’s unconditional love

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

John 3:16 NIV

Other Devotionals You Might Enjoy:

Can We Have Eternal Joy in Jesus? Inspiration from a Southern Snow Day

Don’t Squish the Butterflies: A devotion on the beauty within all of us

Too Many Choices: A devotion on the only choice you need

When It’s All Too Much: A devotional from (in) Spring I found encouraging this week.

As always, Thanks for reading. If you found this devotional encouraging, please share with a friend.