How simple is snow. It is white. It falls to the ground. It is shoveled. It melts. It turns to water. Water evaporates. The snow disappears from sight, and yet it has turned into water which will come again as rain or snow. The world at large does not cry out about the vanishing of snow. Those who shovel do not say: "Oh, dear, what a terrible thing! Snow is gone."

In a sense, all the loved ones you mourn are only snowmen, beloveds. And all those you may fear or dislike, they too are only snowmen, here today and gone tomorrow.

I ask you again, what is all this fuss on Earth about?

If every belonging of yours were taken away today, nothing would have changed. Oh, yes, you would bereave the loss of this trinket or this rug or this house, yet without the trinkets and house and household goods, you would be as you always have been. Beloveds, you stand in the Universe. Life is you and I. And all the material in between has nothing to do with Us. I understand that you think it does. I understand that you feel favored when a house is built for you and unfavored when the house is taken away. And yet, beloveds, the material is immaterial to Us.

You do understand that life is a flow. There are not really separate days. Life is a river that flows. You float on the stream of the river. You bob along in life. You do really and truly deep down know that all days flow together. You know you give names to that which cannot be held in place. You repeat, "Sunday, Monday, Tuesday…" You repeat, "December 26, 27, 28…" You and the world make imaginary identifications of the stream of life that flows right past you as you keep bobbing along.