Fire & Ice

As I sit in my kitchen at the end of my day, being warmed by a small but powerful space heater - I think about the start of my day yesterday. I woke up to go in to the office to "demolish" the Christmas set  from the stage. As I prepared to go outside, I check the weather and went back to get a thicker jacket. Walking out to my truck, I saw the familiar traces of the beginning of a Texas winter as ice formed beautiful patterns on my truck's exterior doors and windows. There was not enough to have frozen the doors shut, but definitely enough that I had to break out the ice scraper for the first time this year to clear the windows so I could create a clear space to see to drive. 


As I pulled out of the driveway, I noticed I was in desperate need of gas so off I went to fill up. I quickly discovered it was to cold to wait for the pump to decide to move fast enough to fill my tank, so I hopped back in the truck to let it finish. I sat there and saw what was left of the ice from my window rather quickly melt down the window and disappear as the sun's warm rays made themselves known.


I was struck with the thought that just as the sunlight melted away that ice that was preventing me from having a clear view of the world around me, God does that in the frozen over places in my life. I my driveway, my windows had been completely shielded from the Sun and it's warmth. They became covered and kept me from functioning, but as soon as the sun hit them, the ice began to melt and I could see again. When I hide things from the Son (or think I do), the become frozen over and can cause me to not be able to function in the way God designed my life to function. When I let the light in to expose those dark and cold spaces, His light melts away the ice and can make me whole again.


This reminds me of one of my favorites song lyrics (not a perfect analogy, but you will get the correlation):


Lord now indeed I find 
Thy power and thine alone 
Can change the lepers spots 
And melt the heart of stone 

Jesus paid it all 
All to him I owe 
Sin had left a crimson stain 
He washed it white as snow 


Lord, as I end this year of 2010, reveal the frozen/stony places in my life that keep me from being who you want me to be for your glory, honor and fame. Melt them away and make me new again.