There are a few scenes in the movie, ‘Phenomenon’, starring John Travolta and Kyra Sedgwick, which have stuck with me over the years.
In the movie, John Travolta plays a farmer in California, George O’Malley, who has a mysterious encounter with what at first seems to be something extraterrestrial. In reality, he is suffering from a brain tumor that ignites parts of his brain, increasing his intelligence beyond normal human capacity. As ideas flood his brain, he finds himself overwhelmed and frenetic. In one scene, he is furiously trying to weed his garden and he is unable to calm his mind or his body. In his frenzy, he notices the tops of the trees swaying gently in the California breeze. He stops what he is doing, stands and begins to gently sway with the trees, feeling a calm come to his being. He does this throughout the movie as he faces the storm of his terminal diagnosis. Later in the movie, after he has died from the tumor, his love, Lace, during her own overwhelming grief and sobs at the loss of George, notices the trees swaying as well, calming her own broken heart.
I love those scenes…
And I have been doing this same thing for years.
When the storms in my life come and I feel like I just can’t hold on another moment, I stop and I sway with and like the trees. It works every time. Sometimes I only experience a gentle rainstorm, and at other times, it is a full-blown hurricane. And yet, I try to relax and sway with these winds of life that could topple me over, rather than fight the wind because I know these winds are God’s breath into my life … He has his reasons for the storms that so often leave me confused and a little lost. Thankfully, I am always reminded during my swaying, that as long as I am firmly rooted in God’s grace, mercy, love and hope, I will be just fine. Yes, some branches may break, but this will allow for the old to go and new growth to take its place. By keeping my roots firmly planted in faith…
… yes, I may bend…
… but I will not break.
(Reposted from http://www.tumblr.com/blog/pamwright24)
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