Mid-January in the north witnessed blowing snow all day.
The sodden oak leaves in the front yard disappeared. With nowhere to go, we enjoyed the storm from inside the warmth and shelter of our home.
The snow depth caused the two roof lines outside my office window to meld into one. I could see the garden’s raised beds in the backyard. They looked like a stretch of white, wide-wale corduroy. The features of the pond were softly sculpted. The icicles wore fuzzy wool coats, and my winter decorations on the front porch were a laughable loss.
I had been reflecting on the verse in Isaiah, which talks about color change. But this winter morning, I thought in terms of shape change. The sharp angles of roof lines and tree branches have all been softened and sculpted by layer upon delicate layer of snow. The hard concrete bench by the pond has been upholstered with a velvet cushion. The thorny raspberry bushes wear ermine collars.
In the same way, the patient work of the Holy Spirit softens the sharp edges of my irritability, critical attitudes, and selfishness. He produces kindness, forbearance, and love in place of hard-edged sins.
Beauty in place of brittleness. Sculpting in place of sharpness. And I’m grateful.
Let God teach you to sense His Spirit’s work in softening your rough edges.
(Photo courtesy of pixabay.)
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Ginny Merritt lives with her husband Ray in a small New York town on the Erie Canal. They recently retired from thirty-four years in the ministry. They are renovating a home built around 1860 and are enjoying being closer to their daughter, son, and two grandsons. Ginny has published two books through Journeyforth, a division of BJU Press: an early reader chapter book, A Ram for Isaac, and a children’s novel, The Window in the Wall.