It was our annual custom to mark the date of Ice Out on our household calendar.
Ice Out is the term used for the day the waters of a lake are freed from the straight jacket of winter's freezing clutches.
One of the reasons we took note of the event was that the water's dancing surface was a herald of spring. Somehow Ice Out released our hearts to run unhampered toward the delightful possibilities of the coming warm weather.
Now we live in an apartment in the city of Prague.
When I flipped the calendar page to March my thoughts went back to the days we turned our attention toward the hopeful occasion. I wondered what was happening back at our beloved Loon Pond as I looked out over our balcony at the cloud-filled skies.
It had been many weeks since we'd seen clear blue.
It had been many weeks since we'd seen clear blue.
To be honest, the gray overcast is not my favorite scenery, but we're just beginning to adjust to our setting and the seasons are part of the package.
Time to practice patience which is definitely not my strong suit.
It took prayer and meditation on God's Truth to settle me back into His arms, yielded to His will, accepting the misty barrier between me and the sun.
It took prayer and meditation on God's Truth to settle me back into His arms, yielded to His will, accepting the misty barrier between me and the sun.
On 3 March I rolled up the metal blinds over our balcony windows and was greeted with a blue-tinged arch as far as I could see. It was as if I had stepped out of a cave.
The feelings of joyful release burst over me as they had at Ice Out even though it was clouds that had disappeared instead of ice.
All I wanted to do was run downstairs and dance all over the city singing songs of freedom at the top of my lungs.
I heard my heart declare in shameless awe, "Spring is coming."
That's the day I adopted the term Cloud Out for our life in Prague.
We've marked our calendar and intend to make it a tradition.
Cloud Out will be our annual reminder that as surely as God brings spring after winter, so will He bring heavenly rest after the pilgrim journey.
All I wanted to do was run downstairs and dance all over the city singing songs of freedom at the top of my lungs.
I heard my heart declare in shameless awe, "Spring is coming."
That's the day I adopted the term Cloud Out for our life in Prague.
We've marked our calendar and intend to make it a tradition.
Cloud Out will be our annual reminder that as surely as God brings spring after winter, so will He bring heavenly rest after the pilgrim journey.
Hallelujah!
"For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known."
1 Corinthians 13:12
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