Throwing Boiling Water into the Air Gives Us an Ice and Snow Display

I’d seen those Youtube videos where folks in Alaska or Canada throw pots of boiling water into the air only to have the water freeze immediately and rain down a puff of snow and ice.

I figure (since it’s -8 degrees F), I would try it myself.

We boil water, pour it into cups, and stand on our back porch.  Ready?  We toss the boiling water into the air.  Instead of water, an amazing cloud of snow falls beautifully to the ground.  The children have no idea why this is happening, but it’s fantastic. 

Even when I explain the science, it doesn’t diminish the awe.

I learn that the boiling water is already so close to being steam that, when I toss it into the air, the water breaks into tiny droplets with large surface areas.  They lose heat so quickly, and the drops are so small, that they literally freeze before they hit the ground.

That conflict in the air astounds me.  Boiling water meets freezing air, and–voila!–the water transforms into a beautiful and completely unexpected state.  A state so fantastic we experience awe. 

I remember this today as I press on against my own internal and external conflicts.  What transforms in me when I release these struggles amounts to something beautiful and gloriously unexpected.

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Journal:  Today, I experience a funny conflict:  Every other family member has a hot shower this morning, and when it’s my turn, I enter a freezing waterfall.  Talk about boiling rage meeting freezing!  I laugh about God’s sense of humor since I had just chosen the blog entry for today.  I learn that even my cold shower can transform something about my character.  Every conflict, disappointment, and struggle surely can.  How are my struggles transforming me today?