Through Extreme Hardship, Silently Adapt

This is a picture of the bristle cone pine called the Methuselah Tree.  This tree is the oldest known living organism, surviving at elevations of 10,000 to 11,000 feet in California, believed to be about 4,723 years old. (correction, this is a bristle cone pine, which is the same tree as the Methuselah, so you get the picture of what it would look like...Methuselah is protected by the National Forest Service, so some people have seen it)

This tree was alive when Pharaoh built the pyramids, Moses led the Israelites through the wilderness, the Roman Empire conquered the known world and Jesus Christ was born, died and resurrected.

Characteristics of Methuselah:
1)  flourishing through extreme hardships over long periods of time
2)  adapts to a changing environment
3)  surviving in barren landscape
4)  during droughts, it becomes dormant
5)  starving off portions of itself to feed small parts, based on availability of water and nutrients

Wow! All of creation points to the Creator and the Creator leaves behind messages to us, his creations.

The message my Creator shouted through this creation was to develop the ability to adapt.  Through all the different weather conditions, the Methuselah Tree has learned to adapt to the environment...not to be killed by the storms.  Although it appears to be dead, it is still alive.  The gnarled appearance has been caused by extremely harsh environmental conditions over centuries of time.

I have the same Creator as the Methuselah Tree, and He, and only He can see me through extreme hardships with peace as my guide.  Can I silently adapt?

There have been some wonderful challenges sent through the blog world the last couple of weeks. Remember, I am new to this world, and yet, my personal challenge is to believe Him through the storms, while adapting silently.

I am not known for silence, unless I am extremely angry, so silently adapting will have to be God.

God speaks through so many things in our lives.  Today, it was this 5000-year-old miracle tree named Methuselah.

"The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they display knowledge. There is no speech or language where their voice is not heard. Their voice goes out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world." (Psalm 19:1-4; cf. Psalm 97:6)