Launch of another winter scene, here:
As you can see from the surrounding area, this is not snow, but hoarfrost.
So beautiful.
And the bush is a perilla that grew from seeds I threw away.
Joke’s on me.
And the bush smells wonderfully lovely, like licorice, at all times, even when it is dried up for fall/winter.
I’d like to launch a few more of my winter photos, okay?
Have to explain some before I begin this post. Sorry.
First, I once worked outside the home. Surprised? One of the co-workers on that job was retired from the military and would tell us about his experiences abroad, from time to time.
For a while, he was stationed in Israel. It was a fun and easy assignment, no war or other real soldierly things going on, then; a desk job. Winter came, and with it, an extremely rare joy: snow. The old timers declared it had been 60 or more years since the last one.
The results were that the children did not know how to play in snow. So, the U.S. Army came to their rescue and showed them how to write messages with footprints in it, and to make snowmen, forts and snowballs, etc.
I loved that story and the images of soldiers in camo, with a knowing gleam in the eye and grin on the hardened jaw, teaching little kids how to make mittens from socks and play in the winter wonderland. I imagined giggles from young and older, rollicking snowball fights, and who knows, maybe some shared hot cocoa. It always makes me smile.
Hold that thought.
Second, and some folks may already know this, but according to the Bible, Jesus created everything that exists, including the angels. (John 1:3)
Okay. Now all the explanation is out of the way, and we can get on with this post.
I’ve been listening to an old Rich Mullins CD, lately, and the same song that always gets me, got me again.
I wish I could sing like him and impart these songs to millions. Instead, I wander through ballads, trying to hum along, wondering where folks find such skill.
The following links are to a free look at the lyrics with an option to listen.
I don’t like every song the man ever wrote—my problem, I know—but there are universal beauties in his too-short legacy. I absolutely love “Screen Door on a Submarine” (which you really have to SEE performed, to appreciate) for content, style, and execution: Tops!
And the achingly beautiful “Not as Strong as We Think We Are” haunts me for days, every time I hear it.
But my stoic husband hands me his hanky and admits, “It is a sweet song,” when they play “Boy Like Me/Man Like You”. Let me tell you why, and let me tell you why I’m writing about it here and now.
It is a darling song for lovers of children, beginning with:
You was a baby like I was once
You was cryin’ in the early morn’
You was born in a stable Lord
Reid Memorial is where I was born
They wrapped You in swaddling clothes
Me, they dressed in baby blue
It goes on fully expanding its theme, the purpose of the Incarnation, comparing various segments of Jesus’ life and the life of Mullins’ boyhood: Did You wrestle with a dog, let him lick Your nose? Did You play beneath the spray of a water hose?
But then comes the line that slays me, almost like a haiku moment:
Did You ever make angels in the winter snow . . .
The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2011 annual report for this blog.
Here’s an excerpt:
The concert hall at the Syndey Opera House holds 2,700 people. This blog was viewed about 8,700 times in 2011. If it were a concert at Sydney Opera House, it would take about 3 sold-out performances for that many people to see it.
I am not sure what this phenomenon is called, but it is winter weather and it is beautiful.
The nearest I can describe it is that a heavy frost was forming on a breezy morning and the results were that the frost formed only on the sides of slender things, such as twigs and wires.
Except that actually, it was a sort of foggy morning, so perhaps the fog was freezing on the sides of things, in gorgeous crystals that extended like pennants from twigs. I don’t know.
Some of you northerners help me out, here.
Anyway, I have a photo; it happened.
Then when the breeze picked up enough to sway branches, the frost began falling off, tinkling like the tiniest bells, falling over the ground in glittery shards in the sunlight.
It was a most awesome morning.
I’ll never forget it.
We once knew a man so strong, he could lift a FULL 50-gallon hot water tank and carry it out of our house. What must it have weighed?
He also lifted one corner of our barn when we needed to put a new pole under the roof.
On each occasion, we had only asked him if we could borrow a dolly or a housejack.
He shrugged.
He did not have those tools. Wonder why not?
He had strenth. He was accustomed to lifting motors from cars and rebuilding them, so his muscles were trained for heavy work.
What kind of heavy character-work would it take to develop that type of strength in character?
How do we achieve strength in character? Where does it come from?
As does physical strength, strength of character develops from use. Each undertaking begins with small steps toward small goals. Our friend could not lift a barn when he was 18, but he worked at developing that strength because he wanted to lift heavy things.
In the same way, the heavy points of character become easier to carry out when we have worked hard to develop the strength.
Think about it. What are you good at? I know a man who excels at arriving late. Likely it began with hitting the snooze button when he was a teen. I know a lady who organizes huge catering events, regularly. Likely that began with learning to cook as a teen. Be it good or bad, your most prevalent strengths, abilities, or skills began with a single step.
And your future most-prevalent-strength can come from a single step you take today.
Your new strength could be in forging forward, no matter the pain. Or you could specialize in giving up at the first twinge.
Your new strength could be in creating. Or it could be in destroying.
There is one strength that I wish we all could develop: the ability to give and accept help. So many refuse to give; so many refuse to accept.
There is One Giver of a bottomless well of all-conquering help, Who ever lives to help us. I am learning to accept His help, His strength, more each day, and to extend it to others–baby steps that could lead to a real strength, someday.
Will you join me?
The weakness of God is stronger than man’s strength. 1 Corintians 1:25
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image via wikipedia
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