advent 2.2

I woke this morning to snow on the ground, three floors below. Then there was much skipping and twirling and finding Josh's glasses and pulling him (groggy and confused) out of sleep, putting the glasses on his face, pulling him to the window to look down. It was white and true and it covered the grass.

What does it mean to accept forgiveness? What does forgiveness do to the past? Does it cover over all the garbage (the way the snow covers the condom wrappers and spicy cheetos bags on the sidewalk)? Or does it erase the garbage, rework the past, dissolve the wrappers and leftovers of our messes? Is forgiveness like snow, or is it more like acid rain? (Refiner's fire?)