Thermals

I have grown up reading these famous words from Isaiah, longing to ‘soar’ over life’s problems just as the eagle, riding effortlessly on the thermals and currents. Yet, throughout my walk of faith, I had never stopped to understand what thermals actually are or how they’re made. Hundreds of years before we had the scientific tools, Isaiah caught a glimpse of principles that God has written into nature that we can apply to our lives today. 

Thermals are a natural phenomenon created by hot air from the earth’s surface rising up and becoming less dense than the air around it. The lighter air rises and cools as it ascends. It stops when it has cooled to the same temperature as the surrounding air.

It is interesting that things ‘getting heated’ at ground level is what creates perfect conditions for soaring. Our natural response when walking through a heated situation, would be to collapse on the floor and stay close to the situation. We attend to the details, keep an eye on things, and just ‘get through’ until things cool off. Isn’t this how most of us engage with our lives? 

The ground level heating up creates an opportunity for choice. We can stay on the ground, keeping our eyes on our steps ahead, on the heated situation, the immediate and the all-consuming, or we can allow this set of circumstances to elevate us, teach us and carry us.

It is important that we understand that ways of God and his Kingdom are so often contrary to the ways of the world. The more we dig in to understand His ways, to learn to think and approach life His way, the closer we will walk to God. And as we surrender more to Him,, the more our choices will stand out from the crowd that surrounds us. 

Thermals are a great example of this. 

Our circumstances can often feel like we’re walking through the fire. We may feel beaten, defeated and drained. We fix our gaze on the problem, on finding solutions, on surviving. We don’t naturally look at this season in life as an opportunity to find freedom we’ve not experienced before, to look up and find clarity, and effortlessly glide. 

This is the challenge for today, and across this devotional as a whole.

We know God can use the storm we are asking to be rescued from as our rescue, but this concept of soaring is another level from there. Am I willing to rise above the situation? Will I allow God to use the ‘heat’ of the situation to provide the means to find new heights above?