Snow

Before I came to Estonia I knew what snow was. We get some pretty serious snowfall in the UK from time to time, so I'm familiar with it. Snow sticks to things, it forms balls when you press it together in your hands and it needs to be scraped from your car. However, since being in Estonia I've found out that I didn't know the whole truth...

In Estonia this winter, the snow is like powder. It drifts like icing sugar being sprinkled on a cake. It swirls from under passing cars like mist. And the best way to get it of your windscreen is with a brush. It's like dusting, but outside.

The problem with my definition of snow was that it was shaped only by my experience, and my experience was limited. I knew some of the truth about it, but not the whole truth. And what I knew before had caused me assume what the snow was going to be like here.

You see, humans are not empty vessels waiting to be filled with information. We are already full of stuff, and some of it is junk. This is not news to God, and way before this had been formed into educational theory (read about Jean Piaget), He knew all about it, and wrote it down for us in the bible.

The bible does give us information to absorb, and expands our view of God and the world. However, God does much more than that. Not only does He fill us up and show us more, but He renews us from the inside. He deals with our problems instead of just pouring new stuff on top of them. 'THE OLD HAS GONE, the new has come!' (2Cor 5:17) He heals us. He renews our minds.

We need to be careful that we don't become so arrogant that we think we know it all. We need to study God's word and seek His heart. We need to be prepared to learn new things, but we also need to be prepared to unlearn old things. What we think is right might not be right and we need to be humble enough to be corrected, in whatever way God chooses. 'Whoever loves discipline loves knowledge, but he who hates correction is stupid.' (Prov 12:1)

I thought I knew what snow was, but I soon learned that my view was limited.
I think I know God, but I pray that God will show me just how little I know Him and compel me to desire to know Him more.