I've only been ice skating a few times in my life, and none of those adventures onto the frozen water ended well. Most of them culminated with me flat on my rear or my back, gazing up at whichever person I was with as they extended their hand to pull me up so that I could fall again. Perhaps it's because I was never good at roller skating or snow skiing or surfing or snowboarding that I could never get the hang of ice skating ... truth is I'm just not very coordinated at things that involve me maintaining my balance while my feet are perched atop a moving object. I always wished I could ice skate, though, and for a long time I held onto my dream of gliding across the ice with perfect form and grace.
We've had a cold snap here in Kansas City for the last couple of weeks and even a dusting of snow a week or so ago. It's rather deceiving here on the plains when the sun is shining brightly in the winter ... I always think it's warmer outside than it truly is. I watched the weather last night before I went to bed and was pleased to hear that it was supposed to be warmer today. So when the sun began shining brightly this morning, I got dressed and put Ollie in his sweater and headed out for a walk. We hadn't walked far when I realized that it was much colder than I thought it would be ... Those warmer temps must be coming later in the day, I thought as I pulled the hood on my coat up around my freezing neck.
I've decided that Ollie may well be the weirdest wiener dog ever when it comes to being outside in the cold. He prances all around my legs when I get his sweater out to put on him to go for a walk in the chilly air, but he plants his feet and refuses to go outside in the yard to potty when the temperatures drop below freezing ... I have to pick him up and carry him out to the middle of the yard before he will do his business, but the cold doesn't seem to bother him at all when there's a walk involved. Crazy, crazy dog. But back to this morning ... the battery on my iPod was dead, so my walk with Ollie was a quiet one except for the sounds of nature around us, and even nature seemed unusually silent today. We were almost to the first bridge on our way home (yes, the wooden bridges that Ollie loves to play our game on) when I looked to my right and saw that part of the creek was frozen ... a smaller part of the creek that descends over some rocks and joins itself with the larger creek below. Ollie noticed it, too, and as soon as we did our running and barking on the bridge, he tugged on his leash to go over to the frozen water. And when we got close to the glistening ice, he sat down and looked up at me as if to say, "Sit, old woman ... sit and look at this for a while."
I sat down on the cold ground, and Ollie climbed into my lap and licked my chin. I'm not sure how long we sat there, Ollie snuggled into my arms and me gazing at the ice in front of us. I couldn't help but wonder about the water that was gurgling beneath the ice and how it is that fish survive under a surface that appears to be so lifeless. While we were sitting there, me and my dog, God began to speak to me ... I know, how many times has He done that out on the trail, right? I'll say it again (and probably again and again) ... God lives on my beloved trail. "Don't only see the ice, Terrie ... see the water that runs beneath it. Don't only see the cold, hard surface ... see the life that exists below it. Look, Terrie ... not with your eyes but with your soul ... look for Me beneath your sorrow ... look for Me beneath your pain ... look for Me, my child ... look for Me. I haven't gone anywhere ... I'm still here ... I'm still here beneath it all ... look for Me." At a time in my life when my heart and soul and mind seem to be frozen solid, God sits me down beside an ice-covered creek and causes me to see the Living Water.
"But from there you will seek the LORD your God, and you will find Him if you search for Him with all your heart and all your soul." Deuteronomy 4:29
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