Snowflake Moments

It’s a common saying that no two snowflakes are exactly the same. Math and science say that this is true for complex snowflakes, even though around a septillion of them fall each year. Though large patterns repeat, there are microscopic or even molecular differences in each flake.

The same can be said for moments in our lives. Yesterday was our annual Service of Lessons & Carols, during which there are several hymns and carols we sing every year. But there is some variation on the hymns, which verses are sung, and if there are soloists. There are also the different anthems and pieces that the choirs, bells, and brass play at various points in the service.

The readings are the same each year, but the readers change. Youth grow up and head off to college. Different people are busy one year, but then available to help the next year. Even if the speaker stays the same, the cadence and rhythm change slightly each year.

The same could be said about a listener in the audience. Even if the music was exactly the same, performed in exactly the same way, and the readings were spoken by the same people in an identical cadence, the listener can have a different interpretation based on their current thoughts, worries, and emotions.

It’s easy to think that life will stay exactly the same; that your routine will continue and you’ll have another chance to do what you didn’t do today. But every day there are changes, large and small, in our lives. Don’t let a moment that really matters to you slip by because you think it will come again. Seize your snowflake moment before it melts.