Last weekend, God used snow to make art throughout the Central Virginia region. Snow covered the landscape creating a beautiful scene - a perfect example of God's handiwork.
The snow was beautiful at first until you had to drive or walk in it. Then it turned into a big black mess.
When I went outside, I noticed that the wind had blow a towel off the railing onto my deck. The towel must have frozen onto the deck surface. When I tried to pull it up, I found it almost impossible to rip it through the sheet of ice covering the surface. I decided to leave it until the sun melted the deck a little. Sure enough, the sun melted away the snow making my job much easier. I easily grabbed the towel and disposed of it.
As I reflected on the experience, I noticed how this story reveals how God works in our lives. At first, we encounter things like snow that may seem good. We enjoy the picturesque beauty from the comfort of our kitchen window. Then when we get past the idealism, we have to deal with the harsh reality of trudging through it. This is hard work. What once seemed so beautiful becomes a trial or hardship. Our heart can become cold in the process. It can become hard to work with and difficult to fix.
Once God shines the sunlight of His love and power on the area, the crust of ice melts away. God can easily fix the problem by changing how we react to the situation. Even though we may have to endure another snow storm in the future, we encounter it with a better attitude and a greater sense of surrender to God's will.
It's interesting how the problem is never really the towel, the snow or the cold itself. The real problem is our reaction to the cold.
