What's The Good Word?

“As the cold of snow in the time of harvest, so is a faithful messenger to them that send him: for he refresheth the soul of his masters.” (Pr 25:13 AV)

If you are not from the frigged north, you may not understand the significance and blessing of a cold snow.  There are two types of snow.  There is the wet and heavy snow.  This snow falls when the temperature is slightly below freezing and the humidity is high.  Then there is the cold and dry snow.  This snow falls when the temperature nears zero with low humidity.  Both are frozen water.  But, the later doesn’t stick as easily to equally cold surfaces and is much easier to remove.  The later can be brushed away.  The former the widow maker.  That has to be removed no other way but by shoveling.  But what of the harvest?  What is it a blessing in harvest time?

Harvest time is a time of hard work.  Often, the laborer is overcome with the heat of the field.  When the cold snow comes, the temperature drops, the humidity drops, and the snow adds a cooling affect to the laborer.  The crops are not harmed because a light breeze will blow it off the yield.  But it feels really nice when that snow hits the face.  When I was a child, we shoveled a lot.  Snow bands called lake effect snow was common.  We measured snow by the feet.  Not by the inches.  We lived on a corner lot with a seven-car driveway.  More like a parking lot.  Needles to say, when shoveling by hand, it was not a simple job.  We would overheat being al dressed up for the cold.  When a dusting of cold snow fell, we would point our faces upward to cool off without getting cold.  The rest of the body was toasty.  But our faces were cool.  Refreshing!

Applied to a faithful messenger, we can see the wisdom.  When time of difficulty come, it is nice to hear “a good word”.  We often hear that question as a conversation starter.  “What’s the good word?”  There are times to be realistic and honest.  But that doesn’t mean we need to always dwell on the negative.  There are times when we need to hear some good news.  Just look at how popular network news is compared to all other programming.  It lags behind.  Why?  Nothing but bad new.  We need to be the cold snow for others toiling away.  We need to be that word of refreshing so that others can continue to labor!  “What the good word?”