Sub nive quod tegitur, dum nix perit, omne videtur.
(Medieval)

What is under the snow is covered. Then, the snow melts away, and reveals
everything.

(pron = soob NEE-weh kwod TEH-gih-toor doom nicks PEH-rit OHM-neh wih-DEH-toor)

Comment: From one angle, this proverb (which I have translated a little more
freely than usual) makes the well-known point about not judging the inside from
first glance on the outside. What is under the snow may be crocuses and
daffodils waiting to bloom, or cigarette butts thrown down with other litter.
The snow both hides a secret beauty and a messy human habit.

This proverb also suggests another dynamic in life—that there are layers to who
we are. As we live our lives, and with any intent enter a process of
self-understanding or self-realization, we will soon discover that there are
layers to us, and the more we peel away, the more we discover, the more there
is to peel away and discover!

My wife and I once owned a house that was about a hundred years old. Over the
twelve years that we lived there, we slowly, room by room, restored the house
to its original Arts and Crafts style. It meant in most rooms stripping away
decades of paint and paper that had been layered over original beautiful
wood-work. Previous owners had attempted to make the house more beautiful,
more livable by adding layers on. We found the real beauty of that house was
many layers deep, hiding away. It had been there all along.

Human life has a more natural process (than sandpaper and stripping chemicals)
for discovering what is underneath. The natural rhythms and relationships of
life will melt away the covering layers, if we allow, and show us ourselves.
We have to be willing to see—the flowers and the garbage.