It was over a month ago that the first storm covered the ground and frosted over the driveway. We pushed off the snow from the driveway and front steps, of course, but we left the snow drifts in the yard and patio to melt at their own pace. On the advice of experienced arborists and gardeners, we even let the snow-laden branches and bushes alone. As one put it, the branches are so fragile with the cold that shaking them would probably cause them to break. I was told to wait out the cold, that the thawing would come.

We did walk in the yard, refilling the bird feeder and taking out the compost. Those paths in the snow and ice, along with the travels of squirrels and such, were the only marks in an otherwise smooth frosting on the yard. Now, as the sun begins to do a little melting every day, it’s those places where we travelled that are melting down first. You can see pieces of dirt and grass underneath. It will all melt and spring will come.

But in February, it just doesn’t seem soon enough!

In the crash-bang-boom pace of a busy week as a chaplain, I often don’t see the places of “snow melt” in my life. My Saturday mornings have become that time where I either catch up on sleep (overnight calls are a killer on my sleep rhythm!) or I revel in a quiet house, read, pray and write about the last week.

Today I realized how “far” I’ve come in some areas of spiritual growth, and where other places are as yet untouched by the Spirit, not yet thawed by the Breath of Life. It’s encouraging and humbling at the same time.

So I take the next steps in this journey, confident and encouraged that God is in the mix, that the blooming will come after winter. It’s just that it’s a slow melt.

Thanks be to God!