Blessed are the Flexible

I must confess, I used to be extremely rigid in my thinking and behavior. I thought my way was best and if you couldn’t get with the program, you were at fault. This black and white thinking cost me sleep, peace, joy, and healthy relationships.

There are many lessons to be learned in nature. We often look at the mighty oak tree and admire its height and girth and think it will forever withstand the storms of life. It stands tall and proud and provides delightful shade from the heat of the day. If you’ve been paying attention to the different weather patterns, however, you may have noticed that after a few powerful storms, even the tallest oak can be leveled because it will not bend with the wind.

A reed, on the other hand, is not much to look at. Narrow and nowhere near as tall as an oak, it has learned to bow with the wind when the storms of life come. Because it will yield itself to the direction of the wind, it will not break like the inflexible oak. After a storm, the reed will survive intact.

Although Moses had been raised in the house of Pharaoh, when called to serve the Lord, He was humble enough to follow and submit. How many of those murmuring complainers who began the journey with him completed it? Noah, never having seen rain, submitted and followed instructions to the letter, building an ark. His neighbors mocked him and drowned when the floods came.

When we refuse to consider alternatives and remain stuck in our stinking thinking, we leave no room for growth. If we are willing to bend, ever so slightly, there is a chance that we may learn something new or see something that wasn’t revealed to us previously that could set us on a path to freedom.

It is impossible to teach someone who knows everything anything. Don’t be that person.