Pieces of Heaven

   There's something that's always been magical about the first snowfall. An enchantment drifts down from the stoney grey of the sky and settles on the ground, snowflake by snowflake, and the world falls quiet. There's not a sound cars or talking or machinery could make that would ever overcome the silence and mystique that falls with the snow.
   In forests and around lakes as the white carpet on the ground and trees form, there is a serenity that could never be obtained by any other simple weather.
   Some of us manage to speak the words sleeping on our lips and tongues. Sometimes a word will be whispered or sighed, standing alone in the majesty of the snow.
   We stand there, and for once in our quick lives, we are united between earth and heaven, mortality and immortality. A paradox suspended in the slow, silent waltz the snow dances to as it falls around trees and mountains and cities.
    For one moment, gold, silver, amethyst, sapphire, and all the jewels in the world are worthless. The shimmering white and pale blue hues of frost and snow curled into floral patterns around the world is more beautiful than money could ever be.
   
    The sunsets and sunrises are equally magical. From the darkness of night and the blazing light of day come two beautiful promises of rest and relief from both. The sunrise, with its promise of a new and brighter day, rises above forests and mountains regardless of the weather.
    The sunset, with its promise of a night of peace and restful dreaming, sets below the same forests and mountains its sister light rose from earlier. Both sunrise and sunset sweep across the world with cloaks of fire. Their veils of gold and lavender follow, trailing behind the ember colors.
     Few people truly see the sunrises and sunsets as they are. No cloud can restrain them; only obscure their light. They walk across the globe and bestow their promises to all people, regardless of who they are. No matter how poor or rich, humble or selfish, the sunrises and sunsets visit them all, in all their glory.

    The sunrise, sunset, snowfall, thunderstorm, moon, sun, wind, and all the elements of the world. So often do people go on with their hectic lives without truly admiring these forces of nature that exist in all manner of beauty and mystery.
    There is no other world in our knowledge that has the vast bodies of water and the glowing fires and sturdy formations of mountains and caves that our world has. All the things we take for granted and regard as just another thing in the day is far more beautiful than we realize.
    These subtle pieces of our lives are, truly, pieces of heaven that have fallen to earth.
    They are more valuable than all the wealth in the world.