Come, oh Southern Wind!

I wasn't as happy with this culinary creation. Mom could tell it was a horse, and that was good, but I felt my creative juices were a little dry on this one. (For you newbies to my blog, my mom is recuperating from abdominal surgery and I am in the frigid North for a few weeks helping her.) 

I had a busy day ahead of me. I had to remove the bathtub sliding doors to see if that made it easier for Mom to get in and out safely. One door came off easily. The second door wouldn't budge. I called in the troops. Brother John showed up and after doing battle with a couple of screws, removed door two. Then we called Mom in to test my theory on the safest way to navigate in and out of the tub. She was successful, so earned lunch.

Brother John helped me in the concept for the ham and cheese penguin. It is sometimes necessary for collaborative efforts in the creative arts. I was having some trouble seeing a penguin in the ham and cheese, but John saw it immediately. As Michelangelo once said, one doesn't create sculpture from marble but releases it. We were releasing the penguin from the ham and cheese sandwich.

Then, since poor Mom has not been out of the house in two weeks as she recovers from major surgery, I asked if she might like to go for a drive. She would. So we set off on a rare blue sky day. We meandered along country roads, with the unimportant mission of seeing if we could find groomed cross-country ski trails at local golf courses. We didn't find groomed trails, but the scenery was spectacular.

It is very cold here, but no one can deny its beauty. We both enjoyed the drive. The blue sky, the clear roads, the peaceful country. Then this morning,  the predicted3-5 more inches of snow was falling. Here is the icy scene outside my window. I shivered. 12 degrees and winter weather advisory. 12 degrees is the warmest morning in the past two weeks that I have been here...but still.

I opened my Bible study this morning to this verse:

"Awake, O north wind; and come, thou south; blow upon my garden, that the spices thereof may flow out." Song of Solomon 4:16

It would be nice for the south wind with its warmth to blow upon our gardens here. I thought of the heart of man and how so often it is frozen, like this place. It seems it will never thaw, it will be iced forever from the only true warmth in all existence: the love and fellowship of God. We huddle inside with our fearful, frozen hearts, trapped and shivering, knowing somewhere there is warmth but not willing to leave this place of eternal cold and step joyfully by faith into the warmer clime -- the outstretched, beckoning, warm and gentle arms of Jesus.

It is like my ham and cheese penguin. I didn't see the potential of a penguin at first, it took a little nudge from my brother to help me. All ye of frozen hearts, I beseech you to discover the God you have always known was there but perhaps just needed a little nudge to see.

Come, thou south; blow upon my garden that the spices thereof may flow out!!
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Jeremiah 8:20 

“The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved.”

Luke 21:29-36 

And he told them a parable: “Look at the fig tree, and all the trees. As soon as they come out in leaf, you see for yourselves and know that the summer is already near. So also, when you see these things taking place, you know that the kingdom of God is near. Truly, I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all has taken place. Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away. ...