Winter at Hocking Hills
John Miller
02/09/21
- Windstream Mail
R E F L E C T I O N S Thoughts on nature and the Christian faith - 2/8/21 ___________________________________________________ "He gives snow like wool; he scatters frost like ashes. He hurls down his crystals of ice like crumbs; who can stand before his cold? He sends out his word, and melts them; he makes his wind blow and the waters flow." - Ps. 147: 16-18 |
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Winters where I live are usually more gray than white. When it does snow it often is temporary and is soon followed by melting of the snow and ice and a return to the prevailing drabness that characterizes most of our winters. When I took this image in the Hocking Hills region of Ohio it was during one of those periods when a recent snow was starting to melt away. I liked the way this scene contained snow, ice and water, three forms of the same substance. It also spoke to me of change, of transformation from one state to another. If you are a Christian you have experienced a similar change yourself. Your heart at one time was hard and as cold as ice. But you encountered Jesus and your heart melted. You now experience his indwelling spirit which flows throughout you like living water. There still will be ice in places, but even that is slowly being melted away. And what did you contribute to cause this transformation? Nothing. It was purely an act of God's grace. Any good you now do is not the cause, but the result, of what God has already done. In theological jargon, you contribute to your sanctification but not to your justification. Even your faith is a gift. In the natural world, God is the cause that brings forth spring out of winter. He is the one who melts ice and causes water to flow. When you think about it, ice melts when it comes into contact with the sun and, in the same way, icy hard hearts also melt when they come into contact with the Son. Thank God that he initiated the contact and transformed your own heart. He is, after all, sovereign. - John
