It is cold outside, especially for someone who lives in a place that is usually warm to hot. I did not anticipate the sub-zero temperatures being as cold as they were. While I had some warm clothes, it is easy to admit it is freezing! In my lament, I reflected on the water fountain before me, struggling to fulfil its purpose. The elements were working against success. I found myself contemplating the challenges every fountain would face given the circumstances – “The world didn’t deserve them! – making their way as best they could along the harsh edges of the world.” (Hebrews 11.38)
Life can feel like everything is working against one’s success. What one expects to work is stuck hard in life’s ice. Everything is stacked against success. What usually is easy is hard. What is smooth feels like a hard edge that cuts right to one’s heart.
Life’s cycles never endure as long as I anticipate they will. Pain, over time, often loses its sharpness. When faced with a candle of hope, overwhelming darkness can shift instantly. Winters will yield to spring and flourishing blossoms that carry an awareness of what will come. In the harsh reality of life’s cold edges, endurance, courage, and trust are allies that give one an advantage in overcoming the odds and moving forward. In my anticipation of the coming cycles, life’s whispers speak of hope, possibilities, and the quest for a better place.
Life touches all. There is no immunity to death. The anguish of what might have been touches the rich and the poor, the powerful and the weak. We are members of a community that is Divinity’s family. As different and diverse as we might seem, we are cut out of the same cloth, tailored to contribute to life and those we meet. In our diversity, the pieces necessary for a better future come together as an opportunity to be embraced. What happens next is revealed by how you and I exercise our freedom. We are writers of our stories, empowered individuals with compassion and love.
