Aesthetic Arrest

Recently we experienced an ice storm here in southern Indiana. Life slowed down considerable with school closings and the like. But the glistening ice in the sunlight of the following day caused 'aesthetic arrest' in anyone who had eyes to see.James Joyce is the one who used the phrase aesthetic arrest to refer to a state of enraptured, overwhelming wonder over beauty. The ice storm was indeed, as John Calvin called it, a theater for the glory of God. It took my breath away in its beauty. It drew my heart to our Creator who never tires of showing us the wild fullness of divine beauty.But its beauty was not the only thing that captured my imagination. On my deck I (Jim) saw something I'd never seen in all my years of winter wonder (including my years in Canada). The ice bent without breaking!In the wonder of glistening and bending ice let you soul be drawn to the God who never tires of showing us the wild fullness of divine beauty that was most fully revealed in his Son, Jesus Christ.