SNOWFALL
                       Rev. Karin Conover-Lewis 


Have you ever watched a snowfall?

Not just seen one, but really *watched* it. Try to picture it now.
Sit back, close your eyes, and let your mind fill with Currier & Ives 
paintings of winter wonderlands. When you have the painting formed in 
your mind, relax, and let the picture come to life - let the snow 
begin to fall, let the scene begin to move.

At first, you see the whole of the painting - a blanket of white 
covering the ground, falling snow softening the air, and clouds 
nestling close to the earth. But then, as you look closer, you begin 
to notice something - you begin to notice that each snowflake follows 
it's own unique path to the earth.

Millions upon millions of snowflakes, each one different than the 
others travelling with it - different, but at the same time alike. 
Alike, because they are all made of the same stuff, and must all obey 
the laws of nature which allowed them to form. Different, because 
each was formed independantly, with no two being truly identical. 

Just as each snowflake is different, but alike, so each snowflake's 
path is different, but alike. Each flake must fall toward the earth, 
because that is a law of nature - but each flake has it's own journey 
to compleat. Some will not even reach the ground - instead they will 
land on trees or bushes, or even balance on telephone wires. Some may 
even be evaporated by the sun as they fall, never making it to the 
earth at all.

Even of those which fall straight to the earth, without a single 
variation in their path - even they followed a different route than 
all of the other snowflakes. Two flakes falling side by side are 
heading in virtually the same direction, but will not reach the exact 
same point, and do not follow the same path to reach their goal.

But is any one snowflake less perfect than it's neighbours, simply 
because it had a different journey to compleat? Is there something 
lacking in it's character simply because it was ordained that it
should serve a different purpose? Of course not! Each snowflake is 
part of the wonder of a snowfall, and we accept this as part of the 
natural order of the world.

People are the same. Each person is a unique creation, set onto a 
path which no others can follow. Each person is similar to every 
other person to have lived upon the earth, and at the same time, 
entirely different. No two people live the same life, no two people 
have the exact same experiences. Each person is unique, each life 
specific to that unique individual. Even two people who agree on 
their goal will not arrive at that goal at the exact same moment, nor 
will they follow the exact same path to reach that goal.

Why, then, do so many people insist that there is one, and only one, 
path which will lead to truth? Why, indeed, do they insist that there 
is one, and only one, truth to be found? Once one of God's creatures 
has been set upon it's path, there is only one path which that 
creature can follow on it's journey through life. But this path is 
certain to be different than the path which is followed by any other 
creature. 

What is important is not that all people follow the same path to find 
truth, but that they find and follow that path which leads to *their* 
truth. Because to attempt to follow another person's path is to miss 
your own way, and to miss out on the most wonderous experience of all 
- the experience of finding that truth which is yours alone to 
cherish.