The night had been cold and clear when I went to bed. When I got up and looked outside in the morning I was delighted to see everything covered in a very thick layer of hoar frost. Hoar frost paints some of the most beautiful winters scenes I have ever encountered.

If you've never experienced hoar frost, it's hard to describe. It's as if someone took millions of individual snowflakes and carefully placed them individually on the surface of everything in sight. The crystals touch each other, but each one remains distinct and separate. I don't have a picture to show you, but I did a quick search at google under images "hoar frost" and pulled up some wonderful photos. It's worth a look.

All the trees, bushes and stands of tall grass were covered in a layer of ice crystals, some as long as a half an inch or more. The coat of heavy white frost magnified every twig and branch on every tree.

Hoar frost has a wonderful way of both revealing and concealing the things it covers. It brings out details you might not otherwise notice and blends the shapes in new ways. They become both more real and surreal at the same time.

When I went for my walk, I was struck by the awesome beauty the frost brought to the landscape. In one forested area, there are six old, mostly dead poplar trees surrounded by much newer growth. They usually look like six dark, dead, black poles in the midst of life. Covered in the hoar frost, they softened to a delightful grey and seemed gentle and magnificent. It was as if they had been given a new life.

Those poplar trees reminded me of the Christian faith. When we've accepted the Lord, our body doesn't suddenly change, yet there is a transformation in us and around us. When we're walking in the faith, there is a new softening and majesty about us as Jesus is reflected in our lives.

Unlike the temporary frost on the dead polar trees, our transformation is eternal. The new life is no illusion it is real.

God created us in His own image.

So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. Genesis 1:27 NIV

Ever since the fall in the Garden of Eden, those images have been dead. They've been walking around, breathing, talking and going through life, but they have been separated from God.

With the mantle of His love over us, we become alive.

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!
2 Corinthians 5:17 NIV

Hoar frost transforms for but a transitory moment. Jesus Christ transforms for all time.

Until next time, rejoice in the mantle of His love and the softening it has in your heart, Rejoice in being made new. Rejoice that others might see Him through you and be brought to the same place of transformation.

Be blessed.

Hallelu Yah (Praise God)!

Kevin

http://gleaningsfromtheword.com/

If you haven't made the decision to accept Christ as Lord