Icicles, Heidelberg, Germany, Photo by 4028mdk09 (CC BY-SA 3.0 Unported)
Ice appears in nature as hail, snow, and icicles – more massively as icebergs, glaciers, and polar ice caps.
Ice floats on liquid water, allowing fish and other organisms to survive the winter months rather than being frozen to the bottom. Ice is a factor driving the great ocean conveyor which transports heat and nutrients around the globe, as well as impacting climate.
Ice in the form of snowflakes changes shape and design as it falls from the sky, and is exposed to variations in temperature. It is nearly impossible for two snowflakes to experience identical conditions as they progress through the atmosphere – just one of several reasons the chances are statistically remote any two have ever been alike.
“By the breath of God ice is given, and the broad waters are frozen…Stand still and consider the wondrous works of God” (Job 37: 10, 14).
Father, You filled the world with wonders for us, so that we might see Your love daily before us. Even those who do not know You by name know Your handiwork.
You give the frost of heaven birth. Breathe on us anew, Father, that our hearts may melt. Shape us to Your purposes, even as we stand in awe at Your beauty. Use us to Your ends, Father, that the Good News of Salvation may be spread throughout all regions and climes.
Amen
READERS CAN FIND MY VIEWS ON ABUSE AND ABUSE-RELATED ISSUES AT ANNA WALDHERR A Voice Reclaimed, Surviving Child Abuse
https://avoicereclaimed.com
“Conan Hand Turkey – Happy Thanksgiving”, Chapel Hill, NC, Photo by bnilsen, Source http://www.flickr.com/photos/bnilsen/5206109741/ (CC BY-SA 2.0 Generic)
Parents with young children will recognize handprint art. The outline of a child’s hand is magically transformed into a brightly colored turkey, butterfly or fish. The result is sure to bring a smile – precious for having forever captured a moment in the life of a beloved child.
The world is filled with God’s handprints, clues to His existence. There are arguments in God’s favor based on First Cause, fulfilled prophecy, the improbability of life, design v. random chance, personal experience, and more.
But arguments to the contrary can be made, as well, some of them powerful. Few things, for instance, touch us so deeply as the loss of a child. Needing to blame someone, we cry out to God in our grief. May reject Him entirely.
It is up to us to sift through the evidence. Read more…
So often we attorneys keep late hours. We catch up on the mail or crack the books, trying to stretch the day beyond all reasonable limits.
Sometimes inspiration is with us: the words and ideas seem to flow better while the world sleeps. Other times we wrack our brains, at a loss for the way to defend a case. On occasion, we sit in despair, the office around us darkened.
God sees all this. Though we define ourselves by our profession, we are first and foremost His children. What He desires of us is not success, but obedience. We may focus on the results; it is our effort the Lord applauds.
“For You are my lamp, O Lord; the Lord shall enlighten my darkness” (2 Sam. 22: 29).
Lord God, You are the Master of the Universe. All bow before You. Yet in Your loving kindness, You care for our smallest needs.
Help us when we struggle in darkness. Light our way, Lord, that we may protect to the fullest the clients you have entrusted to our care.
Amen
READERS CAN FIND MY VIEWS ON ABUSE AND ABUSE-RELATED ISSUES AT ANNA WALDHERR A Voice Reclaimed, Surviving Child Abuse
https://avoicereclaimed
“Mocha Latte with Leaf Design”, Diesel Cafe, Cambridge, MA, Photo by Juan de Dios Santander Vela, Source http://www.flickr.com/photos/86651085@N00/209110989 (CC BY-SA 2.0 Generic)
We “love” a long list of things from Chinese food, the latest high tech devices, diamond studs, and chocolate cheesecake to classic rock, designer handbags, and soy latte.
There is nothing wrong with these things or our enjoyment of them. They are, however, things. Too often, we purchase them in the futile effort to fill an empty place inside – a place that has nothing to do with actual need.
Real Love
We “love” readily, yet have little concept of real love. Our portrayals of love are a clear indication.
The vast majority of images we see of love on film or in print are of attractive, upscale couples in their twenties or early thirties. Attractive and well-dressed children are added to the picture when we are being sold life insurance, family vacations, or disposable diapers.
With baby boomers retiring, a few older couples have lately appeared on the screen, to market dating services and erectile dysfunction cures to us.
Happily Ever After
We are experts at romance, but not at happily ever after. Happily ever after is the hard part, something for which the fairy tales do not prepare us.
Actually loving someone for richer or poorer, in sickness and in health. Through bankruptcy and bad decisions, beer gut and crow’s feet, mastectomy and stroke. Remaining true to a single individual, despite a barrage of messages to “trade up”.
The Care of Strangers
And what of those who have no husband or wife, no daughter or son? Who will love the homeless? The orphaned? Who will love the aged, relegated to the care of strangers? Who will love the victims of war or catastrophe? The veterans who have given their all to protect the rest of us?
We should be able to muster for them at least the degree of love we have for, say, latte or golf. In the process, we may find that empty place inside has been filled.
“ ‘A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another’ ” (John 13: 34).
READERS CAN FIND MY VIEWS ON ABUSE AND ABUSE-RELATED ISSUES AT ANNA WALDHERR A Voice Reclaimed, Surviving Child Abuse
https://avoicereclaimed
“Pope St. Clement Adoring the Trinity” by Giovanni Battista Tiepolo (1737-1738), Alte Pinakothek (Accession No. L 877), Munich, Germany, Source/Photographer The Yorck Project (2002) 10.000 Meisterwerke der Malerei (DVD-ROM), distributed by DIRECTMEDIA Publishing GmbH. ISBN: 3936122202 (PD, author’s life plus 100 years)
Human beings seek after origins as part of a greater search for meaning. Not only paleontology, anthropology, and archaeology derive from the need to know where we came from (and how to make sense of the world around us), but philosophy and theology. What – or Who – was the First Cause, the Prime Mover? And why are we here?
Though our answers to those questions may differ, the questions, themselves, are wired into our genes, no less so than the drive to seek out new horizons. Read more…
“She extends her hands to the poor, yes, she reaches out her hands to the needy. She is not afraid of snow, for all her household is clothed in scarlet” (Prov. 31: 20-21).
Father, You gave us a description of the Virtuous Woman that we might emulate her. You care for the woman on the street corner with an empty cup. You care for the man living in a cardboard shack.
May we, too, remember the poor and homeless, especially during the winter months.
We have been given such an abundance of riches – warm beds, a roof over our heads, loved ones to care for us. The woman with a cup and the man in a shack are part of Your household, after all. They should be part of ours.
It was only through the death and Resurrection of Your Son, Jesus, we were washed white as snow. Help us to share what we have with those less fortunate; help us to share His love whatever the season.
Amen
READERS CAN FIND MY VIEWS ON ABUSE AND ABUSE-RELATED ISSUES AT ANNA WALDHERR A Voice Reclaimed, Surviving Child Abuse
https://avoicereclaimed
A Swedish Christmas Gift, Photo by Evalowyn (CC BY 3.0 Unported)
With the last leaf fallen and fields bare, we are confronted by the Christmas season. In truth, we can hardly avoid it. Carols blare an invitation to spending orgies. The Hallelujah Chorus trumpets sales.
There is arguably some precedent for this extended extravagance. The Wise Men may have traveled as long as two years before reaching their destination. Throughout, they followed the star. All to bring birthday gifts.
As Christians, we know, of course, that Jesus was the gift. The challenge for us, also, is to follow that star; to keep it in sight despite trials and distractions. It burns brightly still, if we will only choose to see. He is, after all, the Light of the world. Read more…
In 2010, 5.3 million families lived below the poverty level, in spite of the fact they had at least one family member employed for half the year or longer. These are the working poor[i] – the men and women with one or more jobs whose combined income will not cover basic necessities like food, clothing, and housing.
The challenge of simply staying alive places untenable burdens not only on wage earners, but the children and elderly they are attempting to support. Heroic efforts by those trapped in the cycle of poverty often make no perceptible difference.
Housing
“ ‘Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head’ ” (Matt. 8: 20).
Like the Lord, Himself, the working poor have difficulty finding a place to lay their heads. In almost every case they pay more than the recommended 30% of their income on housing. The small amount they make will not stretch far enough, so the threat of homelessness is ever present.
Eviction is commonplace, effectively depriving families of most of their worldly goods, when a landlord does not make retrieval feasible, or funds are not present to allow for relocation in a timely manner.
Families are separated in the process, sleeping on a friend’s couch or floor one night and elsewhere the next. Despite the existence of governmental agencies and non-profit organizations, even finding temporary shelter – let alone affordable housing, in livable condition – can be a daunting task. Read more…
“Christ and the Rich Young Ruler” by Heinrich Hofmann (1889), Riverside Church, NY (PD-Art, PD-old-100)
“And it came to pass in those days, that a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered” (Luke 2: 1).
Recently released census figures show that poverty is at its highest level since the 1960s. President Lyndon Johnson’s “war on poverty” is a faded memory.
Poverty is spreading to include the under-employed middle class. Long-term trends such as globalization, outsourcing, increased automation, and decreased unionization have combined to push median household income lower. These trends are not expected to reverse any time soon.
How different is our time from that in which Christ was born? Read more…
A Lawyer's Prayers 