Advent Reflection by Rachel Siegel '20

One of my favorite memories of my time here at Kellenberg took place nearly a year ago, when winter set upon the island with a particularly chilly vengeance. It was a Friday night, the night of the Phoenix concert, and my friends and I opted to stay through till the concert started rather than go home. It had been snowing that afternoon, and as the day turned to evening, the blizzard picked up again and intensified, the sky darkening to a near orange. My friend and I, mystified, stepped into Kellenberg’s central courtyard into a world of eerie darkness and beauty. It was completely silent save the softness of the falling snow, and anything and everything was covered in a beautiful layer of soft, fine white powder. Lights on in the Millennium Room meant we could see the massive Christmas tree and all of its ornamentation reflected in the floor-to-ceiling windows, and for a brief moment in a very hectic time of trimester exams and concerts and stress, life seemed to stand still.
I’d imagine the coming of Christ to be like that snowfall I experienced. Christ is like the snow itself- white, pure, sinless and spotless, and when He came into the world, time seemed to stop as the world rejoiced. I am an ordinary, everyday person who got caught in the flurries, just like the shepherds when they were stopped by angels from heaven, proclaiming the birth of a Savior. I still remember that evening; even all this time later it remains one of my favorite memories of high school, and dare I say I am a different person because of it. Beauty is found in the simple things, just like Christ is. If Christ is peace, then I found Him on a snowy December evening, in the midst of exams and frustration- in the place where I least expected to.