Ice Art

I walked around town last night taking pictures of all the ice carvings that had been created the night before. In the intervening hours we had experienced unseasonal temperatures just around freezing (warm for the middle of January) and intermittent rain. This of course seriously compromised the fine details of these sculptures but most of them still retained a fair amount of beauty.

I observed one of the craftsmen last evening carving on his blocks of ice with a grinder. My daughters pointed out to me that on the face of the blocks was white paper containing the outlines of what the object was to look like. The artist then followed the pattern as he carved away the frozen ice to reveal the beauty that already existed in the mind of the creator. He grinds, chips or melts away the excess ice according to the pattern design to create a beautiful object of art in a third dimension that before only existed in two dimensional outline.

As I reflected on it this morning and looked at the photos I had taken, I was reminded of the admonition to “work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.” Though that text has likely been misused to justify a great deal of legalistic activity through the years, I have pondered for a long time what it really does mean. As I compared it to what I was observing here it helped to make a little more sense.

Do not be too rough on the ice. Ice can be very fragile even though it seems very hard. Rough treatment will mar and ruin the original design. Of course a master craftsman could still create an alternate piece of art that could be very useful, but a lot of problems could be avoided with patience and carefulness. This art is very fragile but under the careful, persistent work of the craftsman can become very beautiful.

Do not be too resistant. The ice is shaped over several hours with sharp tools, saws and even hot flames at times. The true beauty of the object is difficult to see until it is nearly finished

This analogy has some good lessons for me. But in the end, like most analogies, it breaks apart. While I want to cooperate under the skilled hands of God in bringing out the beauty and glory that God designed for me, in the end I want to be much more than a frozen, melting piece of frigid water. I was designed to have a heart aflame with the very passion of God, that is warm and caring, soft and vulnerable, connected to the very Source of life itself.

These pictures are after almost 24 hours of semi-warm temperatures and intermittent rain.