Soggy is the word that best described the forest.  The storms of last night have moved on and left their slippery footprints.  A stubborn raindrop releases its grasp on a leaf high above my head and streaks across my cheek.  As the sun slowly punches holes in the cloudy poncho that surrounds my wooded paradise I watch Mother Nature pull out her towel and soak up the showers of yesterday.  The thirsty forest drinks deep this morning and all around me I hear the song of contentment and satisfaction.

        I walk past many fallen giants.  Enormous trees lay scattered; the victims of some other vicious tempest.  I try to imagine the massive crash that must have erupted when this tree collided with the ground.  See it in your mind's eye, this monster tree toppled by a tornado and sent crashing down to earth carried by its own gigantic weight and strength.  Certainly the forest rumbled and shook at the moment of impact.

        How many summers have passed since this tree had its feet knocked out from under it I cannot tell; but certainly it has been many.  Today it has been reduced to a recycling project; ferns and fungus call it home.  Gradually it is returning to the dust from which it sprang so many years ago.  I notice this mushroom growing at this weird angle out of its side.  This fellow’s circumstance may not be perfect but he is making the most out of what he’s got.  He is transforming his limitations into opportunities.  He is growing and even thriving where he is planted.

        Perhaps your circumstances are not perfect; maybe you have felt the muscle of the storm.  Possibly you have experienced the rumble from the things you’ve trusted falling around you.  If so, determine to grow where you are planted.  Lift your face toward heaven and realize that our strength grows out of our weakness.  These stones which hinder us now can be transformed into blocks for building a beautiful life.  All things will work together for our good if we choose to grow where we are planted.  Happiness is a choice; choose to grow.

Something to think about:

• The roots grow deep when the winds are strong.

• An obstacle is often an unrecognized opportunity.

• If a blade of grass can grow in a concrete walk and a fig tree in the side of the mountain cliff, a human being empowered with an invincible faith can survive all odds the world can throw against his tortured soul.

• Be not afraid of growing slowly, be afraid only of standing still.

• Obstacles in the pathway of the weak become stepping-stones in the pathway of the strong.

• Knowing your own strength is a fine thing. Recognizing your own weakness is even better. What is really bad, what hurts and finally defeats us, is mistaking a weakness for a strength.

• Good when he gives, supremely good,.. . . Nor less when he denies.
  E’en crosses from his sovereign hand .. . . Are blessings in disguise.

Thankful for the storms
Rickey Moore