“Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.” (Colossians 3:1–2)
White knuckles grasped the arm rests. “Just a bit of turbulence,” the flight attendant’s voice cracked as lightning reached for us and thunder yelled at our arrogant plane flying through his sky.
Too frightened to feel fear, I mashed my nose into the plastic window as dark clouds turned opaque. Rain pelted the window. The lightning flashed around me. The interior lights flickered out. Darkness had conquered our plane.
I looked around hoping to see the flight attendant in the glow of the emergency row lights. Nothing. I looked out the window, hoping to see a break. Nothing. I closed my eyes and considered the age old analogy of pushing through the storms of life: keep walking through it, the storm will pass.
But we did not fly through it, we flew up–into it. The trajectory forced my head against the back of the seat. Why continue flying up? We needed to land.
Milliseconds loitered until white flashed in the window again. I pressed my face back to the plastic as the plane surged through the top of the cloud. I looked down to see the storm we escaped, but the turmoil below hid, cowering beneath the rippling marshmallow cloud-floor. I saw no ominous clouds, only sunshine and beauty reflecting off a fountain of wispy clouds.
I am learning to push through storms when they attack, but the quickest way out of the storm is straight up. Above the storm, the sun still shines.
Now I know, when lightning and thunder join forces with rain, I have no armor. I cannot fight. But I can look up. And in the heavens, I can see their weaknesses and remember that beyond them, the sun beams.
Prayer: Father, I see the storm in my life and I know I cannot fight it. I am overwhelmed by the pain. Help me look up so the rains of despair do not drown me. Amen.
Welcome to our newest writer!
Andrea Hitefield lives in Dallas, TX, and is a current student at Dallas Theological Seminary. She loves drinking tea and watching the storms pass by her apartment window. She enjoys finding small treasures to help her deal with a life of Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy.
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