By Jeanni Ritchie
I walked past a dragonfly lying on his back in the garage the other day. I wasn’t sure if he had detached himself from the grille of my car or flown in seeking shelter.
I did know that he was injured—that much was obvious. His tiny legs moved as if he were trying to get up and fly. I wanted to help, even gently flipped him over.
He immediately flopped back onto his back, the rhythmic movement of his legs steadily slowing down.
He was dying. I knew it.
I stayed nearby, the animal lover in me not wanting him to die alone. I talked to him, while the Lord was teaching me through the picture I was seeing.
The dragonfly was exhibiting a righting reflex, an instinctive response that helps many creatures regain their normal position when overturned.
Every God-breathed human has that same “righting reflex,” I realized. No matter how dark life is or what illness has overtaken us, we have an innate propensity to fight to get back on our feet.
I couldn’t stop thinking about that.
Sometimes we stumble because of our own choices. Sometimes circumstances knock us down without warning. And sometimes life turns us upside down so completely that we cannot imagine finding our footing again.
Yet something within us longs to rise.
Micah 7:8 says, “Rejoice not against me, O mine enemy: when I fall, I shall arise; when I sit in darkness, the LORD shall be a light unto me.”
The Lord doesn’t say we will never fall. He reminds us that falling doesn’t have to be the end of our story.
And perhaps that righting reflex grows stronger the closer we draw to God.
Our circumstances may leave us struggling to find our footing, but our faith reminds us where to look.
We may not always be able to right ourselves, but we can always reach for the One who can.
