WHO HAS SEEN THE WIND?

A small sea oat plant may have roots that stretch five feet into the sand.

That's what enables it to withstand storms and the winds they bring.


I remember a prayer that Paul prayed:

"That we would have deep roots.

Roots that would grow deep down into God's love.

And that those roots, deep in God's love, would make us strong."

(from Ephesians 3:17)

I stood beside Ethan, the day Tropical Storm Debby was churning in the gulf, and I thought about how He had "grown me roots."

Roots that I could never have grown for myself.

I remembered the big storm that came eight years ago, and all the smaller ones that have followed.

If anyone would have told me before that I would still be standing after all the storms, I would have laughed.

But before I didn't know the Root-Grower.

I thought that it was up to me to be strong, and to not break, when the winds came.

 

I didn't know that the Root-Giver was also the Wind-Maker:

"He causes the clouds to rise over the whole earth. 

He sends the lightning with the rain 

and releases the wind from His storehouses."

Psalm 135:7

 

The Wind-Maker can release the storms and winds into my life because He knows He has given me, and will continue to give, the roots that will keep me safe and secure in Him.

I remember a poem, by Christina Rossetti, that I memorized as a little girl:

"Who has seen the wind?

Neither I nor you.

But when the leaves hang trembling,

The wind is passing through.

Who has seen the wind?

Neither you nor I.

But when the trees bow down their heads,

The wind is passing by."

That day at the beach, I saw the sea oats bowing to their Maker, and I heard the music their rustling made, and I knew the wind was passing by.

And I also know that the Root-Giver, and the Wind-Maker, was there. And that He is always there, and that I will be safe through every storm, because He has rooted me securely in His Love.

"Let your roots grow down into Him,

And let your lives be built on Him.

Then your faith will grow strong in the truth you were taught,

And you will overflow with thankfulness."

Colossians 2:7