He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you?
To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.

Micah 6:8

That storm rolled in like a freight train yesterday. Saw the dark, ominous locomotive rumbling fast from the west. Ran to the barn and closed those sliding doors.

BOOM!

Lightening and thunder rattled the roof. Fast and furious those barn gutters filled until they could hold no more. Over the rim torrents of water pounded the gravel sacrifice pen–the horse paddock where no grass grows because it has all been either eaten or stopped to death by hooves.

I pulled up the hood of my waterproof jacket and high-tailed it into the house. I stood with my dogs looking west through floor -to-ceiling glass, watching the windows blur with rain sheets.

The pale blue delphiniums only half-blooming bowed low in the wind. Fragile flowers, their resiliency struck me, as they bent but did not break even in this wind and rain so rough. They stood firmly planted where I put them, rooted solid in the composted manure-fed earth, flexible stems swaying this way and that, taking them every which way the wind gusted.

And then the storm was done as quickly as it came. I walked out onto the deck with the fresh smell of summer rain still lingering and I lifted the saturated heads of the delphinium. They were heavy soaked. Fallen but not broken. Unable to stand on their own.

This week, after a whirlwind bashing of news from FBI findings and recommendations to Dallas shootings, I feel a bit bewildered, even a bit battered. I wonder if our whole country is feeling the same. I’m tempted to throw in the towel or at least throw up my hands and give up.

But I will not give in.

I will raise God’s word, that sword of the Spirit, and I will stay alert and pray (Ephesians 6:17-18). Even the most fragile and heavy-laden can wield this mighty weapon.

And when we wonder what else we can do with this mess?

We must do what we can and wait for God. 

Act justly. Love mercy. Walk humbly with God.  (Micah 6:8).

Of all that matters, CHARACTER matters most.

We need to face our reality and stand firm through the storms like the delphinium, with resiliency and grace, bowed low.

The storms of these days may bend us but they cannot break us if we stay rooted in the Truth and Love of Christ.

Stand firm with Truth. Stay supple with Love.

Be of good cheer. But even more, be of good CHARACTER.  

Be the leader you want leading you and your family.

Live TRUTH.

Live LOVE.

Be HUMBLE.

TRUTH matters. LOVE matters. HUMILITY matters.  Because all three combined make us peacemakers, like Jesus.

Take heart!  Every storm passes eventually. The Lord will help us weather. And when the winds subside and the rains move on, we will see that it is always Jesus lifting our heavy heads, causing us to stand tall once again.