Our ice maker stopped working several months ago. Annoying, yes, but worth spending over $100 for the replacement part—when a bag of ice costs just over $2? Um…no. I’m sure we will eventually get around to repairing it, but in the meantime we are making do with bagged ice and one little ice tray.
Remember those things? Those little plastic trays you fill with water and watch magically turn into ice?
My kid’s minds were blown the first time I made ice the “old fashioned way!”
Over the past few months I have developed an odd, but deep, respect for our little 12-count ice tray.
You see, I have a dog who loves ice. I mean LOVES the stuff. To her there is no greater treat than a big block of ice. (why can’t I think of ice as dessert?? Chocolate cake, ma’am? Oh no, just bring me a giant bowl of ice please!!)
[Side bar story: the first time our sweet girl went outside to a snow/ice covered yard she threw her head up (in what was surely a moment of canine praise and worship of the Maker of the ice mana) before frantically eating her way across the yard—her mouth open like a blue whale feeding on krill!]
Well, since she loves ice and considers it a treat, having ice on hand is, in her mind at least, necessary.
The frozen cubes are also deemed necessary by my teenage son who is convinced that sweet tea belongs at the bottom of the food pyramid—the sweet ice cold foundation upon which all else stands.
And so, with such fervent ice needs, I’ve had to buy a lot of ice (ok, now that I’m writing this maybe we should just pay the money to get the new part!)
But we’re cheap frugal and thankfully our cheapness frugality has allowed me to see something I believe God wants us all to understand:
He can use us, and expand our little efforts, in miraculous ways when we continually draw close to Him.
So back to my ice tray—
This little thing only makes 12 cubes at a time—not nearly enough to keep the dog happy all day or my son’s tea cold each time. So when I would fill the tray in the morning, its contents would be used up by the evening, and either the dog or the boy would be left lacking (I’ll let you decide who usually wins the rights to the last ice cube)
But one day recently I decided to be proactive with our ice situation and emptied and refilled the ice tray every few hours—again blowing my kid’s minds when they came home to find well over 100 ice cubes in the non-working ice maker. (it really doesn’t take much to impress my kids!)
That little tray would rest under the faucet where it would be filled to the top before going into the freezer to do the job to which it was created—being emptied of it’s contents. It would then be returned to the source of water in order to repeat the process.
As I watched our ice maker fill with ice—a mere 12 cubes at a time—I started to see the beauty being reflected in that cold freezer drawer.
When we go to the source of Living Water—when we sit before the Father, whether in deep study of His Word or in quiet recognition of Who He truly is—we become filled to the top with His goodness and His character. Then as we go about our daily routine—to the jobs and roles He has given us—he places a cube of His kindness here, a cube of His generosity there, a cube of His love over there. And pretty soon we have been emptied of what He has given us so that we might return to Him to be filled again, therefore filling this world with the fingerprints of God.
The more we are filled, the more we have to share.
I will never look at my little ice tray the same way!
Much love,
Jen
