Storms of life

Mary Madison
Contributor

Every Spring a huge flowering white dogwood tree steals the show in my front yard, when blossoms cover its once bare limbs. Some years, a spring wind current and heavy rainstorm came and blew the flowers from the tree, but it continued to bring beauty. The fallen petals transformed the base of the tree and lawn below into a carpet of white, confetti-like display.
Over the years, there's something else I've noticed. Although the flower show was over, there were a few blossoms that remained securely attached. While those thousands of blossoms on the outstretched branches had been shaken, ruffled, blown about and most knocked down, there were a few tenacious flowers that prevailed, unaffected by outer circumstances.
Over decades, I've observed and can attest to millions of people who were like my beautiful flowering dogwood. Over the past two-plus years, we all have seen and continue to see thousands of people who are still facing storms of life. Beginning with the tumultuous, violent disturbance of the global pandemic, everyone was seeking ways to tolerate and escape this devastation. Then, just as we thought the deadly storm was waning with the inception of a vaccine, we found ourselves affected by other storms within storms: contradictions about the vaccine and the various safety protocols, being shut-down to customary procedures and activities, political strains locally and nationally.
Just as the wind started to blow in a seemingly positive direction, it reversed. We find ourselves still battling our lingering storms and encountering new disturbances: extreme high prices at the grocery store and gas pump. To add insult to injury, we are in a cultural war of confusions that are affecting our children, parents, families, community, our state and nation.
Over my seven and a half decades and the many storms I have been confronted with, I attained an understanding. Take the scenario of my flowering dogwood. Don't flutter out on a limb, to be blown about by the changing winds of current events of life. Don't hurry to escape the various, subtle substitutes I might encounter. Instead, rather than being shaken, ruffled and knocked down by circumstances outside of my control, I affirmed to snuggle up close to the One called “Branch of Life,” “Refuge” from danger and “Peace Giver.” When the winds of change and the storms of life tried to bluster me, like my dogwood I remained tenaciously and securely attached to the trunk (God).