Icebergs

I’m still thinking about the beauty of Alaska.  Last week, I talked about glaciers.  Now, for icebergs. 

It’s an amazing thing to watch a glacier calve sections into the sea.    We can’t see a glacier moving over land, but we can see movement in the cascading ice that splashes into the sea.  The chunks float toward us, and a piece of jutting white ice shines above the surface.  The closer the iceberg comes, the more visible the rock-hard jagged-edged steel blue glows beneath.  Those edges are large and sharp enough to slice open the side of a ship. (The Titanic comes to mind, though I try not to think about a sinking ocean liner when I’m aboard one.)  Rick and I have flown over the North Atlantic and have seen icebergs the size of buildings!

What’s the point?  The biggest part of the iceberg is hidden beneath the water.

People are like icebergs.  We see a part of them, but the real person, the whole person is hidden below the surface.  Still waters run deep, the saying goes.  Every human being runs deep.  Only God knows what they have experienced, what troubles they have faced or are still facing, how they think and what they think about, what dreams and hopes they have, what pain, what joy, what good and evil. 

Jesus tells us not to judge one another.  We see or hear what’s on the surface of a person’s life. Only God sees the heart, the mind, the soul hidden within each human being.  He who made our innermost parts knows our innermost hearts.  Only God, our creator, who is holy and righteous, can and will judge.