It was a dark and stormy night.....

I had gone to bed last night and was approaching slumberland when the telephone rang. It was my dear daughter.She's a college student with her own place...and she was wide awake. We talked until after 1:30 am. When the goodnights were finally said, I snuggled under the covers and marvelled at the changes I've seen in that girl. She has grown from insecurity to a place of strength and determination. She's weathered the storms and battled the odds. I remember when she couldn't wait for highschool to be done and swore she wanted nothing more to do with school. But now she thrives on her studies, has goals for her life, and is consciously taking each of the steps necessary to reach her goals.

The ice storm was continuing and I lay and listened to the sleet and icy rain pelting against the window, and the groaning of the heavy spruce tree branches laden with ice as they banged the side of the house. I wondered how our new flowering crabapple umbrella tree was faring. We just planted it in the fall. We followed the recommendations to stake it with three sturdy stakes for the first 3 years to help it withstand wind and damaging weather.

Don't we all start like tender trees? The storm's no picnic - it's cold, dark, painful, and downright frightening at times. But with some careful staking to brace us, we weather storms and hardships, not to bend and break us, but to make us strong and beautiful.

"Consider it a sheer gift, friends, when tests and challenges come at you from all sides. You know that under pressure, your faith-life is forced into the open and shows its true colors. So don't try to get out of anything prematurely. Let it do its work so you become mature and well-developed, not deficient in any way." James 1:2-4 (The Message)