If you’ve ever lived through a powerful weather event, then you know the feeling that comes after the storm as you walk around and take stock of what is still standing.
Storms reveal what did and didn’t survive. They reveal what was built to last and what was built too fast. I’m certain that I could list countless things that storms reveal in this post, but in an effort to keep it short because my head still isn’t back in the game yet, let me simply quote The Message version of Proverbs 17:17.
Friends love through all kinds of weather, and families stick together in all kinds of trouble. (Proverbs 17:17 MSG, emphasis mine)
Storms reveal the quality of the relationships in our lives, and this can be as painful as it is helpful. The simple litmus test of the relationships we have in our lives is what happens when storms come into our lives? To tweak the famous line from the hit song by the Clash, “Do they stay or do they go?”
Storms reveal what was built to last and what was built too fast. Click To TweetThe best relationships are storm-tested. They last through all kinds of weather and all kinds of trouble. And if you’re like me, this is convicting because it doesn’t just point out the glaring absence of people when we go through hard times, but it also shines the spotlight on all the ways that I haven’t been there for others in the stormy seasons they’ve faced.
Thankfully, this isn’t an all or nothing situation. Relationships aren’t thrown away over a text that was thought but not sent, or over a phone call that was never made. Even the failure to be present with one another in storms falls into the “all kinds of trouble” category, and present us with an opportunity to re-establish the connections that can even overcome bitter disappointment with one another.
Selah.
