There is much I love about springtime in the South! This morning, I have admired with great joy and gratitude the bright yellow daylilies that bloom next to my driveway, the caladiums that are poking their heads up from the warming earth beneath the pine straw, the agapanthus blossoms that are just about ready to explode from their long sun-seeking stalks. Spring is beautiful and reminds us of new life and God’s creative and continual presence in our world.
What I don’t like? The spring storms that roll through on a regular basis! I was raised in Gainesville, Georgia, a town that remembers well the damage that can be inflicted by unexpected spring storms. In April of 1936, two tornadoes merged and destroyed much of downtown Gainesville and resulted in more than 200 deaths and 750 homes destroyed. It is ranked as the fifth deadliest tornado in US history. Because memory of such devastation is long, our elementary school was vigilant about storm preparedness. We had tornado drills with great fervor and frequency, and in the event a real threat of damaging winds emerged in our area, we were quickly whisked into the hallways to sit quietly as we waited for the danger to pass. Suffice it to say, I still feel fear rising when the threat of a storm comes our way.
This past Sunday night was one of those times for me! As the storm sirens began to go off in downtown Fairhope and the rain escalated and the wind hummed, I wondered what my safe place might be in my little house with 30 windows! I thought about the giant oak tree right outside my bedroom windows and wondered how stable it really is? I turned on the TV and hung on Alan Sealls’ every word until he assured me the danger had passed and I finally turned off the lights and found a few hours of sleep.
Later this week, back in my happy place on my screen porch, I watched how a windy spring day created such movement in the branches of the two large oak trees in my yard. I pondered how those sturdy branches managed to wave back and forth so energetically without snapping under pressure. The phrase, “bend, but don’t break,” popped into my mind, and I realized they were created to do just that—to give way when pressure is exerted, to have enough flexibility to move back and forth, but the strength to maintain their connection to the whole when under duress.
This metaphor found in nature worked its way into my heart and I realized God created us in the same way. When challenging times come our way, we can withstand so much more than we think is possible. God created us with the ability to be flexible, to change course, to consider and choose between multiple options, to exercise studied discernment in our lives in so many ways. Because of how we are created, we are able to bend, but not break, as well.
These days call forth our best “bendiness”!! And I believe as we follow God into an unknown and un-seeable future, we have the strength to withstand the winds that come our way.
In the words of the Apostle Paul as found in 2 Corinthians 4:8-10, 16-18:
8 We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; 9 persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; 10 always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be made visible in our bodies. 16 So we do not lose heart. Even though our outer nature is wasting away, our inner nature is being renewed day by day. 17 For this slight momentary affliction is preparing us for an eternal weight of glory beyond all measure, 18 because we look not at what can be seen but at what cannot be seen; for what can be seen is temporary, but what cannot be seen is eternal.
In these days, may we lean into the Eternal and claim the strength of that which we cannot see. May it be so for us all as God’s precious children…in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit! Amen.
Whatever it takes…for God’s glory!
Laura
