The Promise of Christmas

I may be dreaming of a white Christmas but we are only likely to have a wet Christmas. We have a lake in our back yard. We don't normally have a lake. The rain has been virtually nonstop for two solid days.Once upon a time we had grass. Now we have mostly mud and then thanks to the rain, this new lake. As I stood looking out at my backyard lake, I wondered if there was any chance of a freezing cold spell that would turn the lake into an ice rink.

I would love that. I have recurring dreams about being an Olympic level ice skater. In the dream, there is usually some very bumpy and imperfect ice rink, similar to the one that my backyard lake would become if the south were suddenly plunged into a deep freeze. Despite the unforgiving rink, in my dream I take full advantage of the surface I am given, and I do leaps, pirouettes, and magnificently graceful glides on one leg, with arms outstretched like angel wings. And then I wake up, and wish I could have kept dreaming.

This is a very hopeful dream. The ice is never perfect. It is always too small, and too choppy for all the wonderful things I know I could do if the ice were as it should be. Nonetheless, I am able to do things that bring me great pleasure, a sense of freedom, and delight. I amaze myself. I skate miraculously well, especially considering the condition of the ice. I am never afraid, or insecure. I have certainty (that I lack in real life) that I will overcome, and excel.

This is a gift, this dream. God is reminding me that none of us will likely be given a smooth and obstacle-free path to skate along...but we are still supposed to go out and skate as best we can. You just never know how God will mix things up and bring about victory that never seemed possible -- virgins giving birth, shame into honor, water into wine, despair into hope, sin into repentance, death into life, and mortal into eternal.

I looked out at the little lake, the mud, and the incessant rain, contemplating the hope and joy and promise of Christmas. Maybe I will take the family iceskating at the uptown rink over the holidays. That is unless the backyard lake freezes.... You never know....Miracles abound.

*******************

I am able to do all things through Him who strengthens me. (Philippians 4:13 HCSB)



-save a dog- hollowcreekfarm.org
http://www.amazon.com/Vicky-Kaseorg/e/B006XJ2DWU