In light of the recent snowy weather in Atlanta, I put together the following slideshow of snowflake images using the stunning macro-photographs from a brilliant Russian photographer, Alexey Kljatov.  (Mr. Kljatov has kindly made his photographs available to the public as long as we credit him, so please go enjoy more of his work here.  You will be blessed.)

There are plenty of technically complex (and, perhaps, more pragmatic) things we could talk about when it comes to snow–a proper exploration of the intricate phase diagram for ice crystals alone is enough to fill at least a week of class time.  But sometimes it is a good thing to remind students in a classical Christian school the primary reason we study science: not so we can go do something, but so we can better know Someone.  So I presented the following slideshow to my 6th and 8th grade science students, then asked them to write a one-paragraph response.

If you can spare the time, please take five minutes, remove yourself from distractions, quiet your soul, and watch this.  Then read some of my students’ responses below the video.

Two of my students actually had tears in their eyes at the conclusion of the slide show–does the beauty of God’s creation still move us so?

Here are some excerpts from the student responses:

“In every piece of snow God has made a masterpiece, with shapes, varying in size, depth, and design.  It shows me that God really will take care of us, because if He puts that much detail into little snowflakes, He definitely put that much detail into us.”

“The snowflakes show how precise and perfect God is.”

“Since the snowflakes are so beautiful I can’t imagine how heaven will be.”

“Just like how God has made every snowflake different, He has also made every person different.”

“The detail God has put into all of these snowflakes makes me want to know more about the wonderful things He can do.”

“If God makes something as small and unimportant as a snowflake so beautiful and complex, how much care must He put into creating us?  If he makes billions of snowflakes every second of every day and each one is beautiful and unique in its own way, how important am I in God’s eyes?”

“To see the microscopic detail in a snowflake reminded me that I am fearfully and wonderfully made.”

“I realized that the things we take for granted are the greatest things in life.”

“The snowflakes are not much different from us.  We both have the same purpose: to glorify God.”

“I noticed that most were still symmetrical, but some had begun to melt.  It was as if they were created in perfection, but as they began to be influenced by the heat close to the Earth they began to melt and lose that perfection.”

— – — – —

That last statement really stuck with me.  This student was referring to the snowflake pictured at the top of this post.

We are all snowflakes.  Not only are we “fearfully and wonderfully made,” but we still bear that image of God’s perfection, though the melting power of sin has caused us to lose true symmetry with God.

But you can still look at a snowflake that has partially melted and imagine what it must have looked like in its perfect state.

When we look at our students, do we focus on their melted edges, or do we imagine what they must look like to God once Jesus has purified them and made them, well, whiter than snow?

As C.S. Lewis once said, “There are no ordinary people.  You have never talked to a mere mortal.”

Nor do we teach them.