Glass Trees

The name of this blog came to me in the most unexpected way. I had been wanting to start a blog for a long time, for a place to share my writing and thoughts. But I needed a title, and not just any title. I needed something creative and original. So I thought. I had ideas but nothing seemed to just fit. Until...we had an ice storm. This last winter my Kansas town was pounded with a storm that coated everything with two inches of ice. "Everything" included the power lines, consequently many of the residents were without power for several days. Some went for over a week without electricity.

During those few days I felt like I was living in some sort of imaginary land. One day I went for a walk in the park to explore the storm's impact. The ice crunched under my feet with each step. I heard tree limbs cracking and falling from the weight of the ice every few minutes. While snow absorbs sound, I realized that ice reflects it because each time a branch fell the cracking of the tree would echo throughout our neighborhood. I ventured as close as I dared to trees to investigate what the ice had done. Evergreens drooped with sadness from the weight of the ice around each individual needle. They seemed to be mourning the other trees' loss of limbs. On a larger scale, the coat of ice brought a heaviness to the air, the type of heaviness that most imaginary lands have. One day as I was walking to work, marveling at how intricately the ice seemed to be placed around each little limb of each tree it hit me, "Glass Trees."

We got to live in an imaginary land of glass trees for a few days. Life slowed down. Community with friends was richer and more simple. All of our surroundings sparkled like glass as the sun shone on them. How amazing! This would have been so difficult for me to imagine; many had never seen anything like it. Yet, it was incredibly simple for God to put a little ice on the trees and stop "life" as we were used to living it. Maybe our life didn't actually stop for those days, maybe it began.

So with the title of Glass Trees, I hope to share my thoughts about living life, a true life. Often times this life looks different than we expect. Sometimes we resent God for making us live it, but other times, when we look, we find Him in it.