Wind Blown Trees on South Point, Big Island Hawaii

On our 15 year anniversary trip to Hawaii in 2013, Tina and I spent some time touring around South Point on the Big Island (Hawai’i).  At the very southernmost part of the island, which is also the southernmost point of the United States, these wind-formed trees caught my attention.  Evidenced by the numerous wind turbines dotting the landscape, this southern point of Big Island is consistently one of the windiest parts of Hawaii .  What was amazing to me was how the trees formed on this portion of the island all grew in contour to the wind gusts they had to withstand.  That said two things to me:  they were flexible, and they had really strong roots.

We often are called to face turbulence in this life that it seems impossible to withstand.  Yet, when we have put our hope and trust in Jesus Christ, and have filled our lives with His Word,  two things happen.  First, we grow spiritual roots that anchor us deeply in good, strong, and gripping soil.  These are roots we don’t typically see (being beneath the surface) but whose powerful evidence are felt most acutely when our spiritual muster is being challenged.  Second, because of those roots, we don’t just withstand the wind, we actually grow in it and in spite of it.  The Apostle Paul describes this spiritual phenomenon in 2 Corinthians –

“But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body. For we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that his life may also be revealed in our mortal body. … Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.” (2 Corinthians 4:7-11,16-18, NIV)

It is the very life of Christ in you that gives you resilient roots, that courses life-giving sap through every limb and branch, and that molds you into something unexpectedly beautiful in the face of harsh, unrelenting wind.  The conditions are rarely something we’d willfully choose for ourselves, but in God’s gracious and sovereign wisdom He uses them to shape us, and He uses that miraculous renewing and sustaining work in us to prove to the world He is real.

“For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.”