Ice ENCASED and Frozen in Place

Just like that, it was gone. How quickly things around us… and within us… can change.

I left the meeting at church just as the rain was starting to fall. Having heard forecasts of freezing rain in the initial stages of the storm, the other ladies and I were anxious to get safely home before the roads became slick with ice. Luckily they were warm enough that they stayed just wet, but the air temperature dropped to a degree that caused the rain to freeze on everything else the droplets fell on – mailboxes, power lines, fence posts, and tree branches. By the time I reached the safety of my driveway and pulled into my garage, the world around me was suddenly encased in ice.

Perhaps you can relate because you’ve experienced the same. Maybe it was the death of a loved one, the loss of a job, a devastating medical diagnosis. Whether you knew it was coming or not, your world suddenly froze, and all things familiar and dear to you turned cold and hard and unable to bring you the joy they once had. The only thing that seemed able to move were your tears, which repeatedly let loose at a moment’s notice. A personal “winter” settled upon you, one perhaps that others couldn’t walk through with you, although they did their best to wrap you in layers of love and cheer, help and good wishes.

As much as I’m not a fan of freezing rain, I had to admit that the ice covering everything around me was beautiful. The bushes at the forest’s edge, the trees… long frozen drips of frozen water from fence rails, bird feeders… everything covered in translucent white. I tried to photograph the beauty to send to friends in warmer climes, but the pictures didn’t do justice to the crystalized magnificence surrounding me.

The world was still frozen solid when I took the dog out for a quick potty break this morning. Afterwards I grabbed a hot cup of coffee and nestled in amongst the pillows against the headboard of the bed. Soaking in the beauty of the scene outside the window beside me, I knew that soon the temperature would rise enough to melt it all away. And sure enough, before I’d even finished that cup of coffee, I looked out again… and the ice was simply gone! The temperature had risen just enough to release all the frozen droplets and let them fall to the ground. The tree limbs were bare and brown once more.

And so it will be with you. The spring thaw always follows the weight of winter. It may not happen as suddenly as the ice melt outside my window this morning, but it will come. One day you will be surprised to notice that you’re feeling a little better than you were the week before. Laughter might begin as a trickle of joy that suddenly appears in a frozen stream, gradually increasing in size and intensity till it flows fully and freely from your lips once more. You’ll get there.

What’s important is that you notice and memorize the moments of beauty in the winter you are going through – the family that surrounds you with their love and joy. The friend who repeatedly invites you out to lunch to give you a chance to confide and who doesn’t mind the tears that you cry. The pastor who calls or texts to check on you. And oh, the incredible faithfulness of God, Who shows up time and time again in critical moments of your journey… His nearness a comfort as you read His Word. These are incredible gifts of love that you might not experience in any other life season… and you need to receive and soak in them as they surround you now.

And that is because they are photographs of hope, a cloak of comfort that you will be able to wrap around the shoulders of someone else who finds themselves suddenly encased in sadness and unable to move forward. Your shared experiences might be the warmth that starts the spring thaw in the season they are going through.

I simply stand in awe of a God who collects our tears and uses them to water seeds of life in someone else’s garden… that they might likewise rise and thrive one more.

“You keep track of all my sorrows. You have collected all my tears in your bottle. You have recorded each one in your book.” (Psalm 56:8 NLT)

“He comforts us in all our troubles so that we can comfort others. When they are troubled, we will be able to give them the same comfort God has given us.” 

(2 Corinthians 1:4 NLT)