It had rained for days. The temps plummeted. Sleet coated everything. It was a frozen wonderland. I noticed gorgeous icicles where water had trickled through the rocks. They looked like blankets draped over edges and tucked into crevices.

The water, when there’s enough, always trickles through the rock. It just goes unnoticed except in heavy rain or freezing temps. At glance, it seems destructive to the rocks. Over time, don’t the rocks deteriorate due to the erosion of constantly dripping water and the expansion of ice? Yes, that’s how nature works. But there is a lot more stability across the many changes.

One law of nature confirms entropy, which measures disorder and how it affects our lives. I imagine we can all agree disorder does, in fact, affect our lives. But there is a lot of stability we can notice as well. Consider the rock cliffs. To be sure, they change over time, but considering the vast swinging of temperatures, direct sun, winds, and water, they are predominantly stable. We sometimes consider disorder as overwhelming chaos. It feels this way at times. However, we might be able to trust more than we realize. We might be more grounded than we think—or at least have the opportunity to be if we’re willing to establish our footing and keep it checked. We can notice the wear and tear and adjust.

We can feel the extremes and respond with an appreciation for the reality of both the damage and the beauty.