Hiding in the strong tower

​I have bad days. When I do, it's usually because I get caught up in a whirlwind of my own emotions.

You ever watch one of those dust devils form on a playground? Or in an open field? There is this slightest swirl of wind. But the longer the swirl goes on, the more the leaves and dirt and debris from the ground get sucked into it.

A once small and invisible swirl becomes a highly visible mess.

For me, on the other side of the mess, I almost always conclude that the wind didn't suck my debris into the swirl, I threw it in there. I threw it in there fighting a battle that wasn't mine, trying to apply might where my might could only make matters worse.

I follow a God who says in Matthew chapter 11, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

I believe that about God. I believe it, that is, until I am burdened.

When I am burdened, it too often seems, I come to me and not to God. When I am burdened, that is when I too often lean on my own understanding and dismiss the possibility that there is something here to learn from God. When I am burdened, I too often lean on my own power and not God's gentleness, on my own might and not God's humility.

And a burden becomes a dust devil.

I am still not great at God. At seeing him as a fortress, a refuge - a strong tower. I am still not good at resisting the temptation to run straight into those dust devils, flinging my stuff into the air, instead of hiding in the strong tower.

I am still not great at taking his yoke.

I am better today though than yesterday. There is nothing like a dust devil to make more inviting what may be life's sweetest invitation: rest for my soul.

In the ocean, when you are caught in a rip current they tell you to swim lateral out of the current and back into the open water.

Maybe the strategy is similar for dust devils. Maybe the strategy is to walk gently and humbling sideways, away from the devil, and into the tower.

Into the tower where burdens suddenly become light.