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Bending with the Wind
I’ve always loved storms. I remember the summer storms that would roll through my hometown in Newfield, NY. I would lay on my bed with the window open and watch the rain, lightning and thunder. There is something humbling (in a good way) about the power that weather possesses when you’re paying attention. Of course, this is only true when you’re lying comfortably on your bed watching the storm, rather than being trapped by it or in it. There were plenty of times I was caught exposed in the elements while playing outside and had to run for cover.
Since moving to South Florida, I’ve discovered something else I love watching when storms blow through – palm trees.
The next time one of those crazy South Florida storms whips up and tears through the city, take shelter in a place where you can watch some palm trees. It’s amazing to me how they can withstand such incredible winds. I’ve seen the palm trees in my yard bending over like a fishing rod on a fish, without sustaining any damage. When the gust blows out, they pop back as if nothing had ever happened.
Palm trees are designed to withstand the wind. In Psalm 92:12 it says, “the righteous will flourish like a palm tree.” When you think of righteous people, do you think of the word flexible? I don’t! I tend to think of rigid, inflexibility.
Apparently, I need to upgrade my ideas about being righteous. Perhaps righteousness has more to do with healthy, robust roots systems with access to nourishing water. Perhaps, it has more to do with healthy growth and strength to withstand the wind.
Winds whip up in our life all the time. You’re cruising along on a normal day and suddenly you’re caught up in a windstorm of gossip from someone spreading lies about you. You put off your responsibilities for just a little too long, and now, as promised, you sewed the wind and you’re reaping the whirlwind. How do you handle the wind when it starts blowing in your life?
Do you bend with the wind? Can you weather the storms in your life? Or does every little gust of wind threaten to uproot you?
For thousands of years of human history no one really wondered why bad things happen, it was simply a given. Consider Job’s acceptance of suffering as a part of life. It is only us modern people who feel that we are being cheated out of some “better story” by the winds that start blowing in our lives. Why is that? Could it be because in an attempt to unmoor ourselves from the “restrictions of religion,” the architects of modernism unwittingly left us vulnerable to the inevitable winds of reality? Pretending like the winds don’t exist will not keep your hat from flying off when you’re out on a boat. Paul was direct about our temptation to deception in Ephesians 4:14, “14 Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming.” Let’s not be so easily duped!
To thrive in life, we need to put down roots in soil that will nourish our lives and provide stability in the shifting winds of life’s circumstances. If we do, maybe we’ll see that the winds serve a purpose. In the case of the palm trees, how else would the dead palm fronds come down?
If you want to thrive, live righteously, and put down roots in Christ and then throw open the window and watch the storms blow through. Your future is secure when you put down roots in Jesus.
Westminster Christian School, located in Palmetto Bay, Florida, is a private, college-preparatory school for children from preschool through twelfth grade.