Wind is something I am not fond of, especially if I’m outdoors. In the winter, it freezes me to death and in the spring, tornadic wind destroys. But this week, I learned something interesting about wind from my pastor, so I’ll riff off his sermon.

Back in 1991 eight non-scientists, four men and four women, joined 3,800 species of plants and animals when the doors of Biosphere 2 closed behind them in an airtight, three-acre miniature world. The experimental building was located in Oracle, Arizona and was supposed to be a replica of Earth, which is Biosphere 1. It was a giant terrarium, a closed, sealed-off environment that could sustain human life. Supposedly. The sun and electricity were the only aids not created within the sphere…kind of like the garden of Eden. Except it wasn’t made by God. (You can read an article written by one of the men here)

From the get-go, there were problems, and one of them was the trees that grew huge in the almost perfect environment. Sounds good, right? Unfortunately, no because suddenly the trees began collapsing on themselves and dying.

Photograph by Noah Sheldon Pinterest

Why would this happen? It turns out the rich nutrients caused the trees to grow quickly but the lack of wind caused a deficiency of stress wood. Stress wood is created when the wind bends the trees back and forth. The bending back and forth creates a denser, stronger wood concentrated at the base of the tree. This enables the tree to stand stronger and turn toward the sunlight. So wind is good for trees. Without this core strength, the trees couldn’t uphold their weight. You can read more about it here.

How do we apply that to our lives? My pastor referenced Joseph and Daniel, both who went through much stress in their young lives. Joseph’s brothers sold him into slavery to the Egyptians, and Daniel was taken into slavery by Nebuchadnezzar. Early on, both could have whined and cried about their circumstances, but both chose a different path.

Joseph could have chosen to go along with Potiphar’s wife…Daniel could have chosen to eat the king’s food and assimilate into the Babylon culture. But both chose to be honorable and to bloom where they were planted.

I write Christian fiction to show characters who have flaws and who don’t always choose the right path. Trials (like wind) buffet them and they turned to the One True God. Eventually. Actually, my characters are a lot like me. Flawed because I sometimes choose the wrong path, but always desiring to follow Jesus who guides me back to the right one. He has been with me through some strong trials and like trees who endure strong wind, He has helped me build that strong core.

Learn from the Biosphere 2 project. Claim the words in the first chapter of James about trials and lean into Jesus.