Psalm 19:1-4 – The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they display knowledge. There is no speech or language where their voice is not heard. Their voice goes out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world. (NIV)

It was a very snowy winter. Snow after snow fell, day after day. We lived in a very white world.

As spring thaw began, a team of horses pulling a sled suddenly went down so deep beside the winter-packed tracks that they threw snow over their backs as they struggled getting themselves up again onto firmer snow.

A Sunday sleigh-load of youths secured their horses at the bottom and yanked toboggans to the top of nearby Turtle Mountain in southern Manitoba's Turtle Mountain Provincial Park, but the toboggans only sank in the very deep snow and had to be yanked downhill, too.

A farmer piled a hayrack with dead deer that had not been able to hoof through the snow to eat the old grasses and fallen leaves down under. Afterwards, this was called "The year of the Wakopa starvation." The hamlet's store was running out of food, for the train couldn't run. (Wakopa is long gone from maps.)

But one frosty evening that same winter, men doing their outdoor farm chores of cattle-care rushed into the house: "You've got to see this! Hurry."

We women and children wriggled into coats and boots and went outside.

The whole great dome of sky glowed in vast, tiered circles of rainbow colours: pinky-red, blue, pale green — pinky-red, blue, pale green. From the high centre zenith directly overhead, down to the bare tree-tips of the all-around rim of sparsely forested horizon, the totally brilliant colour was broken only by the immediate farm buildings.

The colours shimmered and swayed gently as we turned ourselves about, staring at that great dome, immense like the prairie sky of summer, yet also so near and intimate.

We were awe-struck, knowing that we were privileged to be experiencing what only God could show us. We were amazed, overflowing with the glory that Isaiah experienced: "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory" (Isaiah 6:3b). Even greater still is "Christ in you, the hope of glory" (Colossians 1:27) — glory that can glow in believing hearts forever, even as Jesus said, until "he comes in his glory and in the glory of the Father and of the holy angels." (Luke 9:26b)

Let us speak enthusiastically of God's might and the glorious splendour of His kingdom! (Psalm 145:11)

Prayer: Lord Jesus, thank You for Your prayer, "Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world" (John 17:24). Thank You for giving Your life so that we can live in Your glory forever. Amen.

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