We drive through the crowded parking lot, mountains of gray snow at the edges hogging up much needed spaces. Rachel says, “look at that disgusting snow its so gross and dirty. I am so ready for spring. I hate wearing coats, hats and gloves.”
Quietly I pray for a new layer to cover up the gray. White to cover the black. It was Ash Wednesday. I thought of the significance. It was the ashes on the plowed lot that made the snow mountains gray and dirty. Ash mixed with winter white.
Our denomination doesn’t celebrate Ash Wednesday but my Methodist roots and the Catholic neighborhood I grew up in filled me with memories and meaning of what that day commemorates. Like advent…it is a time of preparing our hearts.
It’s been a long winter here in Western PA. I heard someone say the other day it had been a long winter in her heart.
Ironically one of the hit movies this year is called Frozen. I pondered all these icy metaphors and thought about the cold heart.
Like the tiny shoots of grass and daffodils beneath the layer of snow, the cold heart harbors tiny invisible seeds of hope. What does it take to melt a cold heart?
Love. Forgiveness. Grace. Mercy.
These are all things we can give or offer to someone who is frozen
People ask “What are you giving up for Lent?” I ponder is it really about giving something up or pouring something out? What if we use the 40 days to try to thaw the frozen hearts around us? Bathe their hearts in the warmth of mercy. If they are brittle from bitterness … foster them with forgiveness. Love the lonely and wrap the stumbling with grace. Take a 40 day challenge to thaw the frozen. What will you give up for lent? A bit of yourself? A bit of your time?
Is your heart the one that is Frozen? Are you chilled to your soul, unable to pray, seek or ask? Are you wrestling with the ashy dirty feeling of sin, fear, or regret? Are you brittle from reaching out and being rejected? Are the windows of your soul frosted up ~ blocking out the SON ? Do you long to bathe in the warmth of … something…anything?
James 4:8 “Draw near to God and He will draw near to you.”
Take a 40 day challenge to thaw your frozen heart. Write one thing each day that you are thankful for. Do one small kind gesture for someone else. A smile, open a door, … gratitude will help thaw the edges.
Comment to me or message me and I will commit to pray for you during lent. Let it go. Allow God to resurrect your life before Easter Sunday. Are you up for the challenge? Your Creator is waiting to make your story HIStory and your time of testing, your Testimony. Remember, you were worth dying for…that is what Easter is really all about.
One of my favorite Easter Hymns: For Those Tears I Died.
You said You’d come and share all my sorrows,
You said You’d be there for all my tomorrows;
I came so close to sending You away,
But just like You promised You came there to stay;
I just had to pray!
And Jesus said, “Come to the water, stand by My side,
I know you are thirsty, you won’t be denied;
I felt ev’ry teardrop when in darkness you cried,
And I strove to remind you that for those tears I
died.”
Point to Ponder: Seek out the Frozen. Look in the mirror. Is your soul ready for spring?