Recently a friend told me about a huge pile of snow that she saw in a field. Next to the snow was a sign that read “Free Snowmen, some assembly required.” This is funny because we all have had enough snow and would not want any of it even if it was given away free. It is ever more humorous because of the “some assembly required” part of the sign. That conjures up for most of us images of a child’s toy or an appliance that we purchase and when we get it home we have the challenge of assembling a thousand little parts with an instruction manual that was written by a mechanical engineer. But when it comes to assembling snow men it is more about seeing the potential of a snow sculpture while it is still a blob of snow. God made Adam from dust and breathed in him the breath of life. Michelangelo, the famous artist and sculptor would look at a block of marble before he would begin making a statue and imagine the figure inside the marble and that he was charged with the task of “freeing” the statue that was trapped inside.
Having the eye for potential that is not yet realized is a gift from God for people of faith. Whether it is a mission project at your church or building expansion or even a person called into ministry we need to see beyond the present blob of snow and imagine the potential that God sees before it has yet been created. Once we have the vision for what God wants us to do then get busy doing the ”required assembly” to bring it about.
I love these words of Natalie Sleeth from the “Hymn of Promise:”
In the bulb there is a flower, in the seed, an apple tree
In cocoons, a hidden promise, butterflies will soon be free
In the cold and snow of winter there’s a spring that waits to be
Unrevealed until its season, something God alone can see. (BOH 707)
May you have eyes of faith that sees the promise in everyone and everything and a diligent spirit to make a reality that potential in partnership with God.
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