Proverbs 25:13-14

Like the cold of snow in the time of harvest,
so is a faithful messenger to those who send him,
for he refreshes the heart of his masters.
Like cloudy skies and wind that produce no rain,
so is the one who boasts of a gift not given.

I absolutely love snow. There is no other natural thing that I love more than snow. A good thunderstorm comes in a close second, but snow lives alone in the #1 spot on my chart. #3 is Volcanoes and # 4 is earthquakes. I know you think I’m a freak, but it’s all good.

Snow is amazing. It covers everything. It shows no discretion as to what it falls on, it just falls on everything. And it covers everything in white. Everything looks so nice and clean. And it all looks like it belongs because it all looks the same. It bring unity to things that don’t seem like they should be unified, but because they are both covered in snow, they are. And it makes everything so quiet. It’s like padding the face of the planet with sound absorbing material. Sounds don’t travel as far, and it seems that peace and silence abound. Plus you can have snow ball fights, make forts and snow angels and even make a few extra bucks shoveling the neighbors driveway.

And there are other benefits of snow. When you get an early snow and it stays for a while, it can help keep the ground from freezing real hard. It helps insulate the soil so that there aren’t drastic changes in soil temperature. When the soil isn’t frozen, earthworms and other organisms are able to continue their work.

So, you can see, snow is a good thing. And while you may enjoy cloudy skies with wind that produce no rain, there is absolutely no benefit to that weather system. It blocks the sun from the earth. The wind doesn’t do much besides damage the trees and plants. There just isn’t much benefit.

This is the case for messengers. Imagine a day without phones and email. In a world without those conveniences, it becomes very necessary to have a reliable messenger. Can you imagine how chaotic things would get if you wrote your email and sent it, but then before it got to the person you sent it to, someone changed the content of your message. That could be rather problematic.

That is one scenario this proverb is speaking about. But I think it is also applicable to us today, because we are all asked from time to time to carry a message to someone. Sometimes it’s just as simple as, “tell your mom I said hi.” But, there might be other messages you’re asked to deliver that are very important. You might have to pass on a tough word to another employee. You might have to deliver a confrontational message for someone who can’t. Whatever the message you might be asked to carry, it’s very important that you are faithful to the message your were told to deliver. Don’t change it, don’t soften it, don’t complicate it. Deliver the message you were given.

If you do this, you’ll be refreshing to the one who asked you to send it.