(BNC) By Kerry Duke — Snow falls when conditions are just right. One of these is low pressure in the air. Another is cold temperature. Moisture combines with these conditions to give us some of the most beautiful scenery in all of God’s creation.

It is frustrating to see that the word “snowflake” has come to mean something ugly. Now when we hear this word we may not have images of sunlight sparkling on a snow-topped tree or children building snowmen. Instead, we think of whiners who throw temper tantrums and pity parties when they don’t get their way. How did we reach a point where college students need a coloring book or a petting dog to soothe their nerves because they’re upset? Years ago we didn’t have these snowflakes. They weren’t tolerated. Children who acted like brats were spanked and put to work. They were raised to be men and women, not overgrown babies.

Today the social climate is different. Conditions are now favorable for a new kind of snow, and these circumstances are much like the ones that cause real snow. Snowflakes thrive in low pressure. They grow up in homes where they get what they want. Nothing is expected of them. They aren’t made to do anything because that might stress them. They aren’t disciplined because that might hurt their feelings. Parents shield them from anything that causes them to feel uncomfortable or pressured. When they grow up and enter the real world, they can’t handle disappointment or conflict without falling to pieces.

Snowflakes like the cold because they are cold themselves. They talk like everything is about feelings, and with them it is. It is all about their feelings. The world as they see it revolves around them. Other people are here to make them happy. When others disagree with them, they can’t take the heat. As long as they get their way they seem friendly and caring, but when life denies them they show their cold, selfish side.

A hot, dry desert may be the last place you would expect to find snowflakes, but that is what we read in the Old Testament. If any people ever whined and complained it was the Israelites Moses led through the wilderness.

They murmured constantly about everything. They complained about the food. They complained about water. They complained about Moses and Aaron.

God punished them for their ingratitude and unbelief, often killing thousands at a time. But it was not long until they complained again — sometimes the next day (Num 16). Their griping was so bad on one occasion that Moses asked God to put him out of his misery (Num 11).

The worst part is that they weren’t spoiled. They had been slaves in Egypt! You would think they would have appreciated the freedom God gave them, but that was not the case. Instead of humbling themselves, they became like modern snowflakes.

What about those of us who don’t consider ourselves to be snowflakes? How many times have you complained today? What did you complain about? We enjoy far too much from the good hand of God to act like this.

This article was published in the “Denton Declaration,” bulletin of the Sherman Drive congregation, and credited to westendcofc.org.

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