The Art of God

A little boy born to a Vermont farmer in 1865 had a curious fascination with nature. He loved the trees dotting the family homestead, and the colorful birds that made their homes in the branches. Growing up where most winters brought over 100 inches of snow, little Wilson Bentley became fascinated with snowflakes as well. All he wished for when he turned 15 was a microscope, so that he could study the little frozen specks up close. Capturing the fallen flakes on turkey feathers, he was able to keep them from melting long enough to study them and see their beautiful shapes and translucence, capturing colors in the sunlight. He was captivated with God’s beauty and wanted to preserve it for others to behold. Soon after, the first photograph of a snowflake was taken.

Snowflakes come in 35 different patterns, and we might not know that today if it were not for a curious young man who wanted to see those icy flakes up close. By the time “the snowflake man” died in 1931, after walking through a blizzard and developing pneumonia, he had captured over 5000 images of snowflakes, housed today in the Smithsonian Museum.

What an amazing God we have! Even the little snowflake reminds us of His care. Leaving no detail unfinished, He has intricately woven His world together like beautiful colors of thread:

 O Lord, what a variety you have made! And in wisdom you have made them all! The earth is full of your riches. Psalm 104:24

God could have created everything the same: people with one eye color, landscapes with only mountains or desert, leaves that turn only one color in the fall, and snowflakes in only one pattern. But the art of God is much more creative than that. Like the snowflakes that fall on a wintery day, we are all wonderfully and uniquely made.