strong like pampas grass

Ellie Holcomb's words came floating over whatever combination of songs I was listening to on a long drive yesterday:

"Did you know that Creation is talking to you?

Wherever you go and whatever you do?

The earth will keep giving you clue after clue,

So you won't forget to remember what's true."

I always notice the tall pampas grass in ditches while I'm driving. In certain seasons or with certain lighting, it is absolutely stunning. Light filters through the delicate tips of feathery ends in just such a way that I'd never be able to capture with a camera. On this particular day, I passed a marsh area that was absolutely lined with layer upon layer of the light brown stalks, topped with wavy ends all bending lightly at the mercy of the wind and pointing the exact same direction. They look so delicate.

One day a while back I went in search of some for table decor. I donned some rain boots and grabbed a knife, so I was prepared for it to be harder to harvest them than it looked from the road. When I found some and began the process of collecting them, however, it was even harder than I expected. The stalks were thick and tough... they did not easily snap or bend into an angle. I had taken the knife as overpreparation, and I almost couldn't even get them with a knife. They were so strong, and if I slid my fingers along them the wrong way they'd almost give me splinters. The water they were standing in was also deeper than I had imagined and my short boots threatened the protection of my socks. I managed some, but barely, and ran back up the ditch gripping them tightly and thinking how I'd often see them all lightly bent in the same direction even in very strong wind. They weren't so delicate as they looked... not the stalks at least.

So it made sense that they were strong... otherwise the very wind that made their tops beautiful would actually topple them over. As it were, wind caused them all to gently bend in the same direction but it never destroyed any of them. It couldn't... not the way they were all so clustered together, and not the way that their stalks are built. I've seen them in snow, in rain, and in sunshine... and while they respond to the wind and the weight of precipitation, they do not break. Their tops toss about beautifully no matter the weather, and their stems are deeply rooted in many inches of water and marshy mud.

They are a clue that the earth gives me, as Ellie mentions in her song... a reminder of what's true: that it is possible to bend a bit but not to break in the wind... that the One who created me designed me for the conditions He has placed me in... and that a brief (or prolonged) dip in conditions does not have to destroy the beauty that can come through God's strength in me. I have to learn how to feel the wind, and even submit to the wind sometimes... but not to allow it to take me down. If I'm rooted and well-watered by the Word, I'll be able to withstand any conditions more gracefully.

"Don't forget to remember you're never alone

No matter if you are up high or down low,

And as sure as the sun will keep rising above,

Don't forget to remember that you're dearly loved."