Sometimes the bad things we deal with in life are like a tsunami; they come all at once, tossing you around the water like a loose piece of seaweed in a never ending tumble. Trying to save yourself, you grab onto a tree or the nearest thing you can find that is sturdy enough to hold you. Those trees or things are your support system; they are the people you surround yourself with that are always there to help pull you “out of the weeds” or help you take a minute to gasp for air before the waves pull you back under again. In a tsunami, you are always pulled back under again. Then you are forced to search desperately for another tree, hopefully this time it is one stronger than the last and this goes on and on until you finally find a tree that you can hold onto and that can support you even though you are completely waterlogged and at a point of exhaustion beyond anything you could ever have imagined.

When I first came up with this metaphor of the bad things in life being a tsunami, I was certain that the last tree that was finally able to hold you up was God’s tree; the only one who could ever get us out of such a level of turmoil. However, the more I think about it, the more I realize that God was at every wave and every tree all along, helping and guiding us.

The trees themselves, are the things we plant in life, the relationships we have with people, the attributes that make us who we are, and of course our faith. When a wave takes us to a tree, God is showing us how strong or weak what we have planted in our lives has become. One of the most commonly used phrases is, “everything happens for a reason”. What if God’s reason to knock us into so many different trees is to show us how blessed we are with the sheer number of people and things around us to support us as well as a reminder as to the things we need to work on and strengthen in our lives? What if God isn’t trying to test you and see how far you can tumble, but allowing you to test yourself and the life you have built to surround you?

I believe we make a choice in life, we can either dwell on the bad; all the hurt and pain we experience in life, or we can choose to look beyond that and try to find something good in the ruins of it all. I think that is God’s purpose with the trees and sending us to so many different trees through the constant turbulence of the waves. It is his way of forcing you to realize how many amazing things and people you have in your life that are willing and able to support and help you, along with showing you all the trees that you may try to grab onto but can’t. God is telling us to let go of those trees, let go of what could have been and focus on what is and still could be.

Focus on the inevitability of the ground your feet will eventually touch again. Focus on all of the amazing trees that have held you up and helped you along the way to that solid ground. Focus on the strength you have proved to yourself that you have at the moments when you need it most. Focus on the lessons you have learned along your journey. Focus on the glory of God and all that faith can offer.

No matter what life puts you through, remember that God doesn’t make mistakes; just as you are not a mistake and never will be, nothing God puts you through is a mistake either.

The tsunami won’t last forever and the sun will shine down on you again.

Keep planting.

Keep growing.

And just keep swimming.