What Could Be
One morning I awoke to see a light, wispy snow covering everything with a blanket of peace. The temperature was twenty-four degrees, and most snowflakes were small, almost transparent.
As I brushed off my car, I noticed different kinds of snowflakes. On closer inspection, I saw six-pointed flakes in all sizes and shapes, perfectly cut by a Master’s hand. And yet, hard as I tried, I could find no two alike.
And then there were the flakes that were exactly that. They looked like small sheets of thinly peeled mica with cutting-sharp edges. The reflection from the sun on these flakes scattered thousands of prisms across this landscape of new-fallen snow.
The ones floating down from the sky weren’t flakes but tiny, bouncing balls of bright white. They reminded me of those pesky little pieces of styrofoam that static cling to everything in sight.
The snow was dry and weightless, and the one-inch snow layer cleared from my windows in less than a minute. Within a mile of the drive, the rest of the snow was blown from my car, giving temporary white-out conditions as it swept upwards on the windshield from the hood.
As I thought about this snow, a favorite thing to do, I realized it seemed like fake snow, the type used in a Hallmark movie. But, if I saw it there, I would think, That snow is not for real. You never see real snow like that.
And, yet, I had seen that beautiful, not-so-fake snow.
That brought to mind something that looks fake but is very real, even though it is fake. (I’ll wait while you read that again!) A Hallmark movie. Let me explain.
Hallmark movies can be corny, predictable, and seem too good to be true. There is a formula to these movies. If you watch enough of them, you will know that one hour and forty minutes into the show will be a seemingly unbeatable conflict. From all the ones I’ve seen, that conflict gets resolved, or we have glimpses into a future where it is gone.
Why do people, okay me, get so sucked into them? What is it, other than handsome leading men, that pulls us in? What makes us sit back and get comfortable, hot chocolate in one hand, remote in the other, and hit play?
Part of the attraction seems to be that we get drawn into the possibilities, the what could be of life. We have all been there.
High school geometry class was one such time for me. One row to my right and two seats back sat DS. Just thinking about him still makes me smile. Even after all these years. Who cares about rhomboids and parallelograms with DS over your right shoulder? There was much angst when geometry class was in my rotation. I did not only stress about how the front of my hair looked but also the back, especially the back right.
Unfortunately, only in my mind was the possibility of a romance with DS played out. The reality was he already had a steady girlfriend. But that didn’t stop me from believing in what could be.
It is close to fifty years later, and I’m still dreaming of possibilities, what could be. I’m just no longer putting DS into the equation.
So, back to Hallmark movies and our attraction to them. When we remove the love triangle and the romance between two totally opposite-minded people, what is left are possibilities.
Possibilities and positive thinking. Reflections on the past and hopes for the future. Bonds of love with family and reunion with friends. Mercy and grace all rolled up into one. And I am reminded of where I have seen that before.
By trusting in God for my future, I can imagine the possibilities, believing that what lies in my heart could one day come true. In giving Him thanks for my past and praise in advance for my future, I maintain positive thinking. Mercy and grace, personified in my family and friends, flow freely, and I am blessed.
Hallmark movies are more real-life than they seem, like that morning’s snow.