Clearing Ice

Arctic December air glazed my windshield over with thick ice overnight. Early in the morning before the sun woke up, I found myself trying to carve a hole.

I searched for my scraper in vain. It was gone. Some dear friend borrowed it and forgot to bring it back. I improvised by using a cd case, which, though handy and somewhat practical, seemed hardly sufficient for the task.

Undaunted, I attacked the windshield with vigorous enthusiasm, struggling in the frigid blasts to shape some semblance of visibility.

Unfortunately, as soon as I scraped the ice away, it just frosted over again.

A half hour of scratching and scraping brought nothing more than a small peep hole, barely big enough to see while driving.

At lunch time, the same, day, however, I went to my car and was surprised to discover all of the windows were clear! Not a patch of ice on them! When the sun rose, it melted all the ice away.

I thought, “Now, there’s a lesson on how to deal with difficult situations and relationships. Love is the sun. When it rises, warming beams melt away all the resentment, bitterness and misunderstanding.”

Grim, determined chiseling (or hammering away) hardly ever brings the desired result. Force rarely solves a perplexing dilemma. You can’t clear up a frozen relationship by attacking. That just brings more ice.

Perhaps, if you find yourself in a heart-chilling struggle, you should stop working so hard to fix it, be patient, and just let the sun come up.