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We knew we were in for something unusual when the approaching storms caused the schools and the workplaces to close for two days. Then, late in the afternoon, the freezing rain began to pour down from the skies. During the evening the power went off, and we were left in the dark and the cold for 24 hours. But when we woke and opened the drapes, we were treated to an awesome sight! I wish you could have seen it! It looked like an ice castle, a virtual winter wonderland. I know you people from the north will laugh at my exuberance, but living in Louisiana, we seldom experience this sort of thing.
My husband and I were bundled up already, just to keep warm in the house, so we took a walk down the nearby roads and delighted in the visual treat on every hand. The fields, the trees, the rooftops, and the fences were laden with the transparent, glittery stuff. The most beautiful sight was the trees. North Central Louisiana is called, "The Piney Woods." For miles and miles, most of the trees are very tall, skinny pines. It is a good thing there were visual pleasures in this adventure, because the rest of the experience of the ice storm was not as pleasant. Even though the trees were so beautiful to look at, as the freezing rain continued to descend, these stately pines began to bend. From the top, their trunks were bent, and their branches were so heavily laden that many could hold up under the weight no longer and so they broke. It was like fireworks going off through the night, and the next day, as more and more branches, and sometimes whole trees, gave in to the weight, we could hear the loud snap as they fell to the ground. As some of them came down, they brought the power lines part of the way with them on their descent.
While walking down the road and observing the sight, I thought how some of us are like those ice-laden branches. The "ice" will come, for sure, in our lives. And sometimes too much of it comes in too short of a period of time and it builds up on our branches. We hold up under our burden as long as we can and then, before it can melt, another ice storm may come and the weight builds up even more. Many branches are strong, and they make it through the storms intact, until the temperatures warm and the sun comes out again. But many branches snap and break under the load. It becomes more than they can bear. It was not a few branches and trees that succumbed to the heaviness of their burden in the storm.
Are you identifying with the heavy burden of those pine trees laden with ice? Jesus told us in Matthew 11:28-30 "Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you, and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart; and you shall find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy, and My load is light."
Come to Him and He will carry the load that is too heavy for you to bear.
Copyright Daphne Harrington 2000