It does little good to fight against a storm. But this doesn’t mean we passively allow the storm to take us out. There’s much wisdom in becoming weather resistant even as we learn to accept the elements of our life and relationships we cannot control.
To be sure, when bad weather moves in, we don’t spend our efforts trying to stop the storm itself. Nor do we simply lament about how we have to deal with it at all. The wise course of action is to prepare to weather the storm – ensuring we’ve built a house of bricks and not merely straw or sticks.
And this is true when it comes to navigating the emotional storms of others as well.
On the one hand, we might attempt to overpower their storm with our own. But this usually just causes more damage for everybody. We might also complain about how it’s not fair that we have to deal with their emotional ups and downs. But these complaints, however valid, don’t change the reality of what is.
Becoming weather resistant is learning how to secure our heart and soul in the presence of emotional storms. The focus is less on changing the external circumstances of the other and more on simply fortifying ourselves.
For instance, there might be times in which our wife is upset and angry, and this has nothing to do with us directly, though we’re feeling the full impact of the storm. Being weather resistant is keeping a cool head and calm heart even when she’s biting our heads off.
This is not to excuse any bad or sinful actions on her part. But it is a reminder to simply stay grounded ourselves. We only intensify the storm when we let our emotions get the best of us as well.
In the end, weather the emotional storms of others by becoming weather resistant yourself – securing your heart and soul in a deeper reality beyond this passing storm.
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