Separating Snowflakes

This morning, the sun came out over the snowy landscape. As it shone, the snow reflected, revealing that it wasn't merely some white mass but hundreds of trillions of individual snowflakes. It was breathtaking! I quickly grabbed my camera and began trying to shoot photos of them.

What I soon realized was this: it's hard to pick out individuals when they are all crowded together. Sure, they were still beautiful, but I wanted to separate them. I couldn't do it with my finger or a piece of paper. Even the littlest bit of heat would obliterate the tiny ice crystals. Perhaps I could blow on them? I tried. It worked, I thought. The dusting of fresh snow that covered the hood of my car was now thinly scattered. Upon further inspection, I discovered that my attempt resulted in enough damage to the flakes that they were no longer as whole and beautiful as they once were, and they quickly melted away.

It can be a little like that in the Christian life too. It's tempting to break away from our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ. Perhaps we feel like we could learn about God better on our own and don't need the fellowship of the local congregation. Perhaps we break away in the sense that we want to try and do something big for God, but don't want others meddling with our idea, or maybe we've been bickering with our fellow members. Whatever the instance or reason, the end remains the same: damage is done in some form, whether to us, our fellow believers, or both. It wouldn't work if our body parts tried to act as entirely separate entities, and it doesn't work in the body of Christ either.

"For the body does not consist of one member but of many. If the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would be the sense of hearing? If the whole body were an ear, where would be the sense of smell? But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose. If all were a single member, where would the body be? As it is, there are many parts, yet one body." - 1 Corinthians 12:14-20