“So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.” Colossians 2:6-7 (NIV)

Once I stood under a towering evergreen and wondered how in the world it didn’t fall over when the strong winds came blasting through. My eyes searched from branch to branch, spying a few critters making their homes, all the way down its thick trunk, to the base and out across the massive root system gripping the soil far beyond the circumference of its boughs.

How did it come to be this way? Season after season of sunshine, water, and wind.

I recently learned that strong winds actually cause trees to release a hormone which serves to build extra structural mass in the trunk, and the movement of its roots in the soil triggers the growth of more anchor roots and a wider system to hold it up.

It’s the wind that does the work on the tree, and the tree responds with either breaking or getting stronger.

Isn’t that just incredible? As usual, it’s making me think of how we’re just like that. When we receive Christ as Lord and life’s gales descend on us, we have a hope of still standing when it’s all over.

Thank You Lord that You never leave us or forsake us (Heb. 13:5b), and that our challenges can actually make us stronger.

Psalm 1

Blessed is the one
    who does not walk in step with the wicked
or stand in the way that sinners take
    or sit in the company of mockers,

but whose delight is in the law of the Lord,
    and who meditates on his law day and night.

That person is like a tree planted by streams of water,
    which yields its fruit in season
and whose leaf does not wither—
    whatever they do prospers.

Not so the wicked!
    They are like chaff
    that the wind blows away.

Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment,
    nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous.

For the Lord watches over the way of the righteous,
    but the way of the wicked leads to destruction.