I live in the Northeast and this winter has been odd in that we have not had the usual amounts of snow but lately we seem to under the spell of ‘ole man winter’. Temperatures at night hover around zero of slightly below and the wind has been merciless dropping the ‘feel good’ temps several more degrees. We northerner’s either complain, go south, or just fidget the time away waiting for that elusive crocus to show its head marking the new season of spring. Yeah, we sit and wallow in our cold forgetting other parts of the world.


I was sent the pictures attached from a friend and an unknown photographer. Looking at the picture all the cliches about cold, snow, wind, and untold stories of old seem to vanish. We don’t have it so bad after-all. We sit in our warm homes looking out of insulated windows at a pristine white from a recent snow. In the pictures I see a different world. One in which just getting out of your house seems too much to bare. I’ve heard of using an ice scrapper but these poor people must use some kind of heavy duty unnamed tool to just pierce the surface of what appears to be a rock solid veneer of real ice not the sissy ice we are used to here. Kind of puts things into perspective.


People can be like the layers of ice in the pictures. They can be hard and impenetrable or just seem to push you away just by looking at their cold veneer. How do you break through the layers of ice formed from unknown moments of sorrow to find that warm center we know is there? What tool or tools do you use to crack the veneer that the cold of life has created? Sometimes you say it’s hopeless or I’m not strong enough when you see a formidable crust that keeps you from breaking through to the true soul that lies beneath.


Sometimes it takes a lot of courage to touch such a cold surface. At times you don’t know when or where to start. After all you don’t want to injure or mar the surface below the ice or cause damage to what could be a fragile soul. You must figure a way to slowly breach the hard surface and melt away the accumulated stiffness of storms over which they had no control. Or did they?


When the cold of life approaches do you just stand there and let it take away the warmth that is you? Do you turn on your inner furnace and keep the ice from forming or do you keep moving so that you won’t freeze in place? Sometimes you can’t run away but must stand and face the cold. Sometimes what seems overpowering and overwhelming is just one layer of ice and can be broken by movement toward that which is warm and comforting.


For myself, I stoke the fire within and keep the ice from forming. I invite others to join me in keeping the warm waters from becoming cold. Together we keep the ice from stiffening our resolve to be everything we were created to be. We stay flexible and bend when needed. We assist each other when the wind becomes harsh and frightening. We allow the heat of our convictions create a warm glow that attracts others of like mind so that the cold diminishes, the crocus blooms in our hearts, and before you know it the sun takes away the clouds and our little patch of earth become a garden from which flowers grow and butterflies fly.


My friends, keep your inner fires burning with the Spirit’s love and make your world a warm place to be. Join together to teach and learn and become more than you could imagine alone. Add days of sunshine instead of cold to what seems an impossible task. If you stay warm and fuel the fire of your soul you will awaken from your cold winter’s dream into the sunshine of new tomorrow. You will see your true beauty as the rays of the Creator caress your being with love. Winter, ice, cold are no problem when you stand in the Light of your Creator’s love. You see, it is love that will melt away all the layers of winter’s cold and reveal who you truly are - a soul of unimaginable wonder.