We’re finally above freezing again. As the snow and ice melts and the land drinks deeply from the release of all this fresh water there is a sense of release in all areas of our lives as the tension ebbs with the water. I watched a programme on the Discovery Channel recently that talked about the direction of the Mississippi River being changed in prehistory by a monumental thaw. The ice had formed a giant plug and when it melted millions of gallons of water burst through the breach and cut a new path which is now the St Lawrence River. Sometimes as the seasons change it can have a huge impact on the environment.
Change of season is no less dramatic in our own lives; we can have instances in which change causes a plug to melt and everything comes pouring out. When I was a younger man in the winter of my life I was so incredibly selfish. I believed there was a God but I never knew Him on any level, so consequently I didn’t do anything with any reference to God. I drank heavily and led quite a hedonistic lifestyle and this was all good, or so I thought. I was so selfish in my outlook that I honestly believed that God’s sole concern was MY happiness; other peoples pain never touched me and I didn’t care that much about things that I didn’t benefit from. I suppose my block of ice was my own heart.
Spring came in the form of the love of God; a love as intense as the heat from any furnace and my cold, hard heart didn’t stand a chance. With incredible and immediate life changing intensity the thaw set in. When I encountered this love I became aware of two things: firstly just what an awful self-serving person I’d been as God’s grace opened my eyes to this; and secondly how much my past didn’t matter as God’s love manifested itself in my life though the atoning sacrifice of Christ. I was forgiven.
The summer’s been long and good. There’s been ups and downs and I’m still learning every day. There have been many new opportunities to serve and to share my journey, a journey that began with a block of ice melting in the spring. Times change; things change but in my life the greatest change has been through the warmth and intensity of the love of God.
