Graphic and Photo by Jennifer Shipman
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“March” in Michigan means “unexpected”. One week shone 60° and sunny. The weekend poured wet and windy, thunder shaking the sky. Then: 19° and icy.
The morning’s flow was less than smooth. I move slow and the clock moves fast. Up and down the stairs, in and out the door for forgotten earrings, cell phone, and water jug. And of course there’s frost on the windshield. Nor is it the nice kind that’s easy to scrape off. No, it’s the fine, dust-like kind that grips the glass for all it’s worth and scrapes off in itty bitty fits and starts.
I scrape off the driver’s side – good enough, already ten minutes late – and go. And then, THE SUN. Oh, my, the sun. I can barely see, and that’s with the shades on. So I continue on my careful, blinded way. The water jug spills. It’s cold. The big truck ahead of me is sooooo slooooow….
And then two things happen, still small whispers in my frantic heart: Francesca Battistelli starts belting it out: “This is the stuff that drives me crazy”, and in a moment without the sun burning my retinas I catch a glimpse of the trees. For a second breathing escapes me – every tiny branch is sheathed in ice, sparkling in that sunlight. I think “God has sculpted an ice garden”, and it occurs to me that the sun and the ice are His creations and they are not here to vex me. They are here to remind me: He is Creator of all, He loves me and gives me beauty.
Romans 12:2 says, “Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.” I choose my attitude. I can choose it based on my circumstances, or I can choose it based on God’s truths. I renew my mind – daily – by coming back to Truth. His Word is Truth: I must read and apply it every day. His Creation is Truth: I look at all His hands have made and I find Him. And His provision is Truth: I remember all He has done, see all He is doing, and dwell on it. And so by these things my mind is renewed and my attitude transformed.
Soon Francesca is singing “This is the stuff You use….” Amen.