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I stood at the patio door watching the sun reflect through ice on the trees and the fence, and making rainbow prisms of the neat rows of icicles that hung from the trellis over the patio. The whole backyard was glistening, and I was mesmerized.
We had had freezing rain for two days and nights and we had been shut in for most of that time with no power. Everything seemed to have frozen in one way or another. And without power, it was as if we were shifted back to another time. We had a kerosene heater and lanterns that burned camper fuel. But with several layers of clothes, and gas burners on the stove, we made it just fine.
As the sun continued to shine on our ice-covered world, the rain that had frozen and stuck to trees and rooftops continued its journey to the earth below. Thirstily, the earth absorbed the much needed moisture. Then, as the ice melted, our lives returned to normal.
The ice made me think of our hearts when they sometimes grow cold and indifferent to God and to people. If we believe in God at all at those times, it seems as if He is far from us and that He never gives us, or our concerns a thought. Then, something happens that reminds us of God's love for us. He shines His face upon us and we feel His warmth again. It is at these moments when the coldness of our hearts begins to soften and melt in the warmth of His love - when somehow, in some small way, the message comes through to us. "God loves you."
"God loves me?" you might say. I can promise you on the authority of His Word that God really loves you. He loves you very much and He created you uniquely, just as He desired you to be. He gave you special gifts and abilities with a special plan in mind for your life. You are inferior to no one. And since God loves you, you can reach out and love also. You are free. Won't you receive His wonderful love and acceptance today?
"For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be. How precious to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them!" Psalm 139:13-16.
"And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love, lives in God, and God in him" 1 John 4:16.
Copyright Daphne Harrington 2000