True North

Winter is banging my doors down. A friend emailed; Arkansas is encased in ice. Last I heard there were 130,000 people without power. Here in the US… I think we are invincible until things like this.

The wind is slamming through my street making the buildings shudder. I place my hand against the cold front door and demand the blast pass on, leave us unharmed. I pray for the homeless and hurt creatures in the woods, someone please cover them with leaves or something.

Now the temperatures have fallen. Wasn’t it the week before last that eighteen degrees was freezing? Eight degrees is in the offing now, and it will get colder the reporters say.

Suddenly I hear the words lilting in the back drop of the unsteady drum. An alto voice croons beautifully, rhythmically, “I’ll never leave you, always be with you, when you face the unknown”, as the shaking of the windows and whip of unseen force hits the doors yet again, making them reverberate in the quarter inch leeway of the jamb.

My heart melts.

How long have I been trapped in the icy depths of this life? When did I turn my gaze from the Creator to the created? I take out my spiritual compass, flicking it to find True North again. Ah, there He is, on the horizon. Warm, steady, calm; He’s sprinting now, welcoming me back to the island paradise of His Heart.

Baby, it’s cold outside.