Ok, I'm going to post this daily devotional I find awesome. Read it or not

[boomboom]

From Streams in the Desert...

The Breaking of the Storm
By Mrs. Charles E. Cowman

"And there arose a great storm" (Mark 4:37).

Some of the storms of life come suddenly: a great sorrow, a bitter disappointment, a crushing defeat. Some come slowly. They appear upon the ragged edges of the horizon no larger than a man's hand, but, trouble that seems so insignificant spreads until it covers the sky and overwhelms us.

Yet it is in the storm that God equips us for service. When God wants an oak He plants it on the moor where the storms will shake it and the rains will beat down upon it, and it is in the midnight battle with elements that the oak wins its rugged fibre and becomes the king of the forest.

When God wants to make a man He puts him into some storm. The history of manhood is always rough and rugged. No man is made until he has been out into the surge of the storm and found the sublime fulfillment of the prayer: "O God, take me, break me, make me."

A Frenchman has painted a picture of universal genius. There stand orators, philosophers and martyrs, all who have achieved pre-eminence in any phase of life; the remarkable fact about the picture is this: Every man who is pre-eminent for his ability was first pre-eminent for suffering. In the foreground stands that figure of the man who was denied the promised land, Moses. Beside him is another, feeling his way--blind Homer. Milton is there, blind and heart-broken. Now comes the form of one who towers above them all. What is His characteristic? His Face is marred more than any man's. The artist might have written under that great picture, "The Storm."

The beauties of nature come after the storm. The rugged beauty of the mountain is born in a storm, and the heroes of life are the storm-swept and the battle-scarred.

You have been in the storms and swept by the blasts. Have they left you broken, weary, beaten in the valley, or have they lifted you to the sunlit summits of a richer, deeper, more abiding manhood and womanhood? Have they left you with more sympathy with the storm-swept and the battle-scarred? --Selected

The wind that blows can never kill
The tree God plants;
It bloweth east, it bloweth west,
The tender leaves have little rest,
But any wind that blows is best.
The tree that God plants
Strikes deeper root, grows higher still,
Spreads greater boughs, for God's good will
Meets all its wants.

There is no storm hath power to blast
The tree God knows;
No thunderbolt, nor beating rain,
Nor lightning flash, nor hurricane;
When they are spent, it doth remain,
The tree God knows,
Through every tempest standeth fast,
And from its first day to its last
Still fairer grows. --Selected

[133724]

1. I like

the still small voice.........

[CoffeeCat]

2. Thanks for that...

...it made my day.

[Az]

3. It doesn't mean storm literally

As most of the "storms" we face are human in nature. That is most of the trouble we face in life has to do with interactions with our fellow humans. So this begs a question. Are you suggesting that the troubles and turmoils of our life (is other people) are placed there deliberately by God to allow us to rise to our fullest? And if so does this not mean that these other people's freewill has been violated as they are placed by God?

[teryang]

4. a romantic notion at best

storms, natural or otherwise, regularly kill various lifeforms.

This thought also brings to mind the phrase, "that which does not kill me, makes me stronger." Perhaps. Perhaps not, maybe it leaves you permanently disabled, and no longer the person you once were.

[cosmik debris]

5. I'm sure Katrina victims will appreciate the image:

"The beauties of nature come after the storm."

Watching the people die outside the Superdome was certainly one of Nature's beauties.:sarcasm:

[muriel_volestrangler]

6. Going off on an almost complete tangent

'moors' are about the last place you'll find an oak. They grow naturally (as opposed to being specially planted by men) in woods. And 'mighty oaks' are also artificial - produced by men cutting down competing trees around them, which allows them to spread. Without interference from humans, they normally grow much more thinner, having to race to get higher.

There was a fascinating programme on British TV a few weeks ago, trying to find if there were any trees left in Britain that haven't been affected by humans over the past 10,000 years. They ended up on a small island on a freshwater loch in northern Scotland - they think everywhere else has has humans selectively harvesting trees, planting them, and so on.

[MistressOverdone]

7. So, in essence

trees have become domesticated?

You are right about the oaks. You never see them in a forest. Only out in fields or in avenues.

[muriel_volestrangler]

8. Trees in the UK, anyway

and probably most countries where there's been a significant population for thousands of years. It was an interesting programme - presented by Michael Heseltine, a retired British politician (he challenged Thatcher for the leadership of the Tory party, which lead to her downfall). Before politics he got rich in publishing; and has a large country house where he plants hundreds of different types of trees. He said in 100 years time, his politics would probably be forgotten, but he hopes he'll be remembered for his tree work.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

9. And Sufis say

that the purpose of a broken heart is to make it grow wider to create a greater capacity for Love.