If you live in Tennessee then you know that February has been WET! This past Saturday it rained for what felt like the hundredth day in a row. When I say it has rained it has truly poured buckets upon buckets, flooding many parts of our state. Back to Saturday, when we saw the predicted forecast we declared it a movie day! I ran to redbox and got several movies to occupy our minds during the rainy afternoon. As predicted the rain came; and it came hard...so hard in fact it distracted us from our movies and more to watching it fill our backyard. As we looked out on our backyard we saw on three different occasions a limb fall from a tree. It was sudden and abrupt almost like it was just too tired of hanging on during all these storms. Each time it seemed as if the limb was throwing in the towel. Tired and defeated.
This week I have thought more of our trees and what I saw when those limbs fell. I picture the tree as a person weathering a storm of life and the limbs friends trying to help the tree hold on. If you have been through a storm in your life be it...job loss, cancer, death or divorce, then you know how difficult weathering the storm is. It feels much like the rain we have seen this past month. You don't see light at the end of the tunnel but instead more darkness and doom to rain on your life. Sometimes the only thing holding you up is the limbs (friends) in your life. If you have been through a storm you know that even some friends grow tired and weary. Some start backing away from your situation for fear it will creep into their life as well. Some are just too busy to bother with all you have going on when they have a life to live as well. Some are just the friends of convenience when things are good they are there & when things aren't so good they are no where to be found. These are the friends that much like the limbs I witnessed Saturday fall away from you instead of continue to hold you up. Gosh thinking about this it starts to be a discouragement.
But just when I started to feel down I remembered Moses. In Exodus 17 we read the story of Israel defeating the Amalekites. In order for the Israelites to have the advantage Moses had to hold up his staff in the air. After some time Moses' arms grew weary and tired as soon as he lowered them the Amalekites gained the advantage. But it doesn't end here- you see Moses had friends, Aaron and Hur, they found a large stone to prop Moses on and they got on either side of him and held his arms up until sunset so that the Israelites could claim victory. When Moses ran out of his own strength his friends met him where he was and carried the weight for him. We all have these kind of friends too. The one's who show up and are there. The one's who know what you need without you saying a word.
Two thoughts for today:
1. Surround ourselves with friends like Aaron and Hur; friends that will uphold you and strengthen you when you can't do it for yourself.
2. Be a friend like Aaron and Hur. Don't drop like a limb when the going gets tough in a friends life. Instead hold them up and help them to see that the sun will shine again.
