Walking through the woods, snowflakes falling from the sky… snow crunching under foot… crisp air filled my lungs… and the beauty of the woods as a winter wonderland filled my eyes. Trees blanketed in mounds of snow. Paths filled with tracks of animals (and people) walking through the woods. The creek waters gushing through the rhododendron.
Taking in the scenery something else caught my eyes.
Icicles.
Stretching down from on high.
Catching the shimmer of sunlight.
Water slowly flowing down the ice, dripping to the ground.
Surprising beauty hanging off the rock edges… and, no sooner had they been found that I realized: they were melting. The warmth of the sun against the cold, frozen water was quickly melting them away.
The very sun that made them sparkle was undoing them.
Faith Formed Drop by Drop
Icicles do not appear instantly. They are shaped by a slow rhythm: melt, drip, freeze… again and again and again and again and again… Each drop seems insignificant on its own, yet over time something substantive takes shape.
As water both melts and freezes, drops of water both shrink and grow the ice formation one drop at a time.
In discipleship, faith is rarely formed in dramatic moments alone. More often, it grows through small, everyday practices: daily prayer, repeated obedience, quiet trust.
Kindness expressed when exhaustion would rather ignore a knock at the door. Choosing to pick up the Bible when scrolling through reels seems more enticing. Holding your angry words when your tongue would rather lash out in anger. Generously blessing someone else and losing your spot in line, the last cookie, the trip you wanted to take. Giving praise to the Lord for His abundant goodness rather than complain over the inconveniences… each and moment where, like heat and cold meeting, the clash of our desires and God’s refining spirit creates the opportunity for God to grow us to be more like Jesus in every day, obedient faithfulness.
Discipleship and our sanctification aren’t always easy, but it’s worth it! Galatians 6:9 encourages us to not grow weary in doing good because, in time, when we don’t give up we will see the fruits of our efforts.
James1:2–4 says it another way, “Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.”
The icicle did not form in a moment. Neither did you. God grows us incrementally. What feels repetitive or mundane is often the very process by which depth and strength are formed.
Growth Happens in the Tension
Icicles exist because of contrast, a tension between warm and cold. Without warmth, there is no melting. Without cold, there is no freezing. Both are necessary. Likewise, discipleship often unfolds in the tension between comfort and challenge, between seasons of answered prayer and long silences. God uses both.
Moments of warmth (grace, joy, community, assurance) soften us. Seasons of cold (waiting, suffering, uncertainty) solidify what has been learned.
Faith is not formed by ease alone, but by God’s presence within the contrast.
Stillness and Time Are Essential for Formation
An icicle cannot form in constant motion. The water must slow, pause, and freeze. Formation requires stillness.
In a world that is always on the move, constantly connected, prizing achievement… discipleship insists on slowing down… on abiding rather than achieving. Spiritual growth often happens in the quiet places where nothing appears to be happening.
But quiet moments of stillness, solitude and silence are anything but “nothing.” God does deep work in stillness. Waiting is not wasted time; it is formative time.
Formation Is Often Hidden Until It Is Visible
For a while, icicles are barely noticeable. One day there is just snow sitting on rocks; the next morning an icicle has formed. Beginning as thin, almost fragile lines of ice, easy to overlook. Only later does their shape become visible.
Faith often grows the same way. Much of God’s work in us is hidden, unseen by others and sometimes even by ourselves. Yet, over time, the fruit becomes visible.
What God is forming beneath the surface will eventually be revealed.
What Forms Can Also Break, but God Is Not Finished
Icicles are beautiful, but they are fragile. Under the heat of the midday sun, washed away by falling rain, or broken off by force, they can snap, shatter, or fall. Yet their breaking does not negate the process that formed them.
In discipleship, moments of failure, doubt, or fracture do not mean formation was wasted. God works even through what breaks.
Paul reminds us in 2 Corinthians 4 that, while what we have is like “treasures in jars of clay,” our weaknesses, struggles, afflictions, and brokenness do not have the last word! The power that raised Jesus from the dead is at work in us!
God is not deterred by our fragility. He continues shaping, restoring, and forming us again.
I know many of us are done with winter… we don’t want to see snow falling and icicles forming. But, just as we know spring will arrive, if we hold out a little longer, what will we see God doing in the freeze and thaw in your life?
Where are you living in the tension of the freeze and thawing drips of life? Where is God slowly forming something beautiful in you?
As the days pass by, the calendar sees the coming of March and spring in sight. But not yet. This morning, the snow is falling. Winter is still here. With temperatures fluctuating the freeze and thaw cycle is growing something beautiful.
God, we come before you today in the tension of the heat and cold, the growing and the waiting, the peace and the struggles of life. Thank you that we can know we are not alone in the tension and waiting! Help us to faithfully choose moments of everyday obedience and trust as you continue to grow us into the likeness of your Son! In the moments when we feel our faith cracking, our patience faltering, our passion dissipating, draw us closer to the ever-present love of Christ and your goodness to us! ~Amen
Love you, friends! May God meet you today in the slow dripping stillness of the waiting, and the tension of the comfort and pressures of life!
~Jillene
Thin Moments 