ICE COVERED LAVENDER

Standing at my front window looking out today I glanced at the expanse of landscaping beneath me.  The temperature had risen well above freezing melting back the snow and unearthing parts of the plant life again. My eyes watched the icicles, now turned clear, hanging from the eaves dripping to the earth below.  Several icicles were dripping onto my large lavender plant helping to melt back the snow from it, but also creating chunks of ice which encased pieces of the plant.  I couldn't avert my gaze for a time  - drawn to the sea foam green delicate leaves of the lavender.  How did that plant, so beautiful and so fragile, flourish alive under the weight of the ice?   How did it still show its stunning beauty even in winter?  The contrast was mesmerizing to me - the power and harshness of winter over top of this thing of frail beauty.  I could clearly and distinctly see both.  The strange stark contrast actually made each thing, the ice and the plant, even more beautiful.  How could that be?  How?  Continuing to watch the drops of water fall I saw my own life too.  I was that plant - created for beauty to display God through who He made me.  I too felt covered in ice - encased with the weight of things in my life.  Bound I was, by things that had changed that I didn't want changed - feeling their loss.  And, I was still waiting under the weight of the ice for things to change that I desperately needed changed - wanting to be free.  My branches felt fragile as though they may break.  Why did God operate this way?  Why did He like to portray His creation of beauty for a season in ice?  Spring seemed forever away as I stood watching the plant with snow and ice on it.  It seemed forever away in my own life too.  Did I know it would come?  Could I right now rest in the ice and know God would bring Spring?  Could I?