Snow falls on Friday morning.
Fast. Heavy. Quiet. Wet and warm as only desert snow can be. Too late in the day to mean a change in school. Too vulnerable to the wind that comes after to stay.
By the time I drive home, it is almost melted. Almost. But, not quite.
Because, there is a patch on the mountain that stays brilliantly white. One spot.
The place where last summer's fire burned through.
There is a scar on the mountain, a burnt place that might heal when the spring brings rain and that brief flash of green that paints the desert in the early parts of the year, as if even nature can't wait any longer to shake off the last vestiges of winter.
For now, though, it is black. A few minutes of heat and rain that still show themselves half a year later.
Every time that I see it, I pray. Pray for Haiti. Pray for churches and programs and children. Pray for the kids that we took this year. Pray for the kids that we have taken in the past.
Pray for the places where these trips have marked them, the memories that they hold as proof that God is good even when times are hard.
And, it is always a little bit sad, knowing that something was destroyed in the process, that we stood beside them and allowed their hearts to be broken. But, the memory of it takes my breath away. As if my protective side and my whatever-the-other-side-is are arguing with each other. Arguing over how best to do life with these kids.
And, I am reminded of the oxymoron of grace.
Because, today, the scar is white.
Today, the burnt spot is the place where the borrowed purity of snow shows through with the greatest definition. Today, the broken place most clearly demonstrates His grace.
As it does every day.
When it's almost Christmas and they are antsy with the thought of it. When it is Lent and they are growing faster than any of us can keep up with. When we're in the midst of the ebb and flow of normal time.
Every day, His grace shines through the most clearly when it is allowed to cover our brokenness.
But he said to me,
“My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.”
2 Corinthians 12:9a
Fast. Heavy. Quiet. Wet and warm as only desert snow can be. Too late in the day to mean a change in school. Too vulnerable to the wind that comes after to stay.
By the time I drive home, it is almost melted. Almost. But, not quite.
Because, there is a patch on the mountain that stays brilliantly white. One spot.
The place where last summer's fire burned through.
There is a scar on the mountain, a burnt place that might heal when the spring brings rain and that brief flash of green that paints the desert in the early parts of the year, as if even nature can't wait any longer to shake off the last vestiges of winter.
For now, though, it is black. A few minutes of heat and rain that still show themselves half a year later.
Every time that I see it, I pray. Pray for Haiti. Pray for churches and programs and children. Pray for the kids that we took this year. Pray for the kids that we have taken in the past.
Pray for the places where these trips have marked them, the memories that they hold as proof that God is good even when times are hard.
And, it is always a little bit sad, knowing that something was destroyed in the process, that we stood beside them and allowed their hearts to be broken. But, the memory of it takes my breath away. As if my protective side and my whatever-the-other-side-is are arguing with each other. Arguing over how best to do life with these kids.
And, I am reminded of the oxymoron of grace.
Because, today, the scar is white.
Today, the burnt spot is the place where the borrowed purity of snow shows through with the greatest definition. Today, the broken place most clearly demonstrates His grace.
As it does every day.
When it's almost Christmas and they are antsy with the thought of it. When it is Lent and they are growing faster than any of us can keep up with. When we're in the midst of the ebb and flow of normal time.
Every day, His grace shines through the most clearly when it is allowed to cover our brokenness.
But he said to me,
“My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.”
2 Corinthians 12:9a
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