I was listening to Joel Osteen this morning on XM radio during my commute, and he was talking about being a "Bounce Back Person" and he used this beautiful analogy of the palm trees. I loved it and it was so calming to me and helped me change my perspective on several things that I have on my mind and heart right now. I thought if it touched me, it just might help someone else too. I was able to find it online so I thought I'd share a few excerpts from it.
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God designed the palm tree to bend but not break in high winds. The palm tree can bend all the way over until its top touches the ground and still not break. Palms may be bent over for four or five hours during a strong hurricane. You’d think they would snap right off, as thin as they are, but palms are resilient. They bounce right back.
Biologists say that during a hurricane when the palm tree is being bent and pushed over, its root system is actually strengthened by the stress, which gives it new opportunities for growth.
When the storm is over, the palm tree smile and says, “I knew this would be a bad one. I knew I would be battered. But what do you know? I came back up stronger than I was before. Now, if you will excuse me, I think I’ll grow a little taller.”
That’s what God says will happen to each of us, if we just stay in faith. Psalm 92:12 “The righteous man will flourish like the palm tree.”
Isn’t that interesting? God could have said we would flourish like the mighty oak trees big, sturdy, with great branches. Or God might have said we’d flourish like pine trees tall and majestic, able to see for miles!
But God chose palm trees because He knew there would be difficult times in which we would have to bend so we wouldn’t break. He knew things would come against us, trying to steal our joy, our victory. So God said, “You will be like a palm tree, because I’ve put a bounce back in your spirit.”
The storms of life will come. The winds will blow. At times, it might look like you’re finished, like it’s all over for you. You might get a bad report about your health. You might be passed over for a promotion or laid off. Other times, it might appear that your dream has died. But just like that palm tree, when the storm is over, you will not stay down. You will bounce back and keep growing.
We all face disappointments and setbacks. But the key is to develop a bounce-back mentality.
When you get knocked down, don’t stay down. Get up to fight another day. Disappointments hit. Disruptions happen. But pity parties are not the answer.
When you’re a bounce-back person, you know that every adversity, every setback is only temporary. It will not last forever. No challenge is too difficult for you. No obstacle is too high to overcome. No sickness, no disappointment, no person, no hurricane, no dive in the stock market can keep you from your God-given destiny.
Don’t accept difficult days as the way it will always be. You may be a little bent right now because of hard winds, but that’s not permanent.
Life will hand you disappointments and setbacks. But we are not like an oak tree that can be toppled over. We’re not like a pine tree that can be blown down. You and I are like the palm tree. We may get battered and beat up, but we will return stronger than we were before. ~Joel Osteen
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