We went to slept peacefully enough, but I woke up with a start at about 3:00 a.m. A fierce electrical storm was sweeping across the lower half of America with a vengeance (although I didn’t know it at the time), and we were right in the middle of an area where hundreds of bolts of lightning were striking!
(Blue-tipped pinpoint)
What was happening? Was there going to be a hurricane? Unbelievably, Alan was sleeping blissfully beside me with a quiet, rhythmic snore that seemed comforting. He’s usually a light sleeper. If it wasn’t enough to wake him up, maybe it wasn’t as bad as I feared.
I was reluctant to check the weather station for fear of waking him. I couldn’t see anything out the window but streams of water pouring down. Remembering we were camping right next to the office building, I took some comfort in the thought that in a hurricane, this edifice would take some of the force of a big storm surge. My mind raced, trying to plan the best option for survival.
“Small comfort,” I thought to myself. “Most of the homes are built on stilts, so the water could come flooding through and knock our RV over just fine . . . or topple the house onto our RV.” 😦 Alan and I had only experienced one hurricane, the first Hurricane Irene, back in 1999. We were on the fourth floor of a huge beachfront resort on Daytona Beach, and gale-force winds made the plate glass picture window bulge and tremble. We fled to the bathroom and huddled against the interior wall to keep from being impacted by shattering glass, although it didn’t actually break.
The morning after Hurricane Irene, we discovered the storm surge had caused flooding on the streets. Telephone lines were down, and we were advised by the front desk not to attempt going anywhere until the waters receded. Alan had splurged and rented a Saab 900 with a moon roof and white interior for the trip. From a rooftop patio of the resort, we were able to survey the damage on the streets and noticed the hurricane had broken the windows and blown out the moon roof of our rental car. Yikes!
But, this time we weren’t in a fortified hotel built to withstand hurricanes. We were in a lightweight fiberglass motor home. I was trying to think what to do when our RV jerked convulsively back and forth as the wind seemed intent on tearing it apart. Thunder rumbled, roared and then exploded like a vicious dog attacking. With a demonic howl, a fresh gust of wind shrieked and clutched at our ceiling vents (cracked open to exhaust moisture). A huge bolt of lightning crashed so close to us that Alan’s whole body seemed to jump straight into the air, but he just turned over and went back to sleep. I hopped out of bed and scrambled to close the vents before they were ripped off. And waited.
Weather Bug (our favorite weather app) reported: “Severe electrical storm with possibilities of tornadoes.” Somehow, the thought of a tornado seemed less frightening, since most tornadoes are only about ?? 150 feet wide with wind damage encompassing a mile or two . . . so much less chance of being hit than by a hurricane storm surge, which can impact coastal areas for hundreds of miles. Rain pelted the windows, but after the front edge of the storm passed, there was just the steady patter of rain for long enough that I fell asleep.
About 5:00 a.m. we both woke with a start when a huge rush of wind jerked the RV sideways and the clatter of hail set us both scurrying to look out the windows. Because I’d had to seal the vents, the windows were so fogged we couldn’t see a thing. Alan looked up the weather for our area: “Severe storm warnings with possible surges, flooding, and tornadoes.” (There had been devastating tornadoes just 2 weeks prior.) Glad I didn’t see the prediction of possible storm surges during the night!
We waited until it was nearly time to check before Alan spent a very wet half hour disconnecting us and cleaning up outside. The drainage ditches beside the road were full of water but there was no flooding over the roads. By comparison, this storm turned out to be less severe than we feared, but our shelter was also much more flimsy, so it definitely gave me empathy for how people would feel under the threat of a hurricane with little or no shelter to defend them.
“And he said, Go forth, and stand upon the mount before the Lord. And, behold, the Lord passed by, and a great and strong wind rent the mountains, and brake in pieces the rocks before the Lord; but the Lord was not in the wind: and after the wind an earthquake; but the Lord was not in the earthquake: And after the earthquake a fire; but the Lord was not in the fire: and after the fire a still small voice. And it was so, when Elijah heard it, that he wrapped his face in his mantle, and went out, and stood in the entering in of the cave. And, behold, there came a voice unto him, and said, What doest thou here, Elijah?” (1 Kings 19:11-13).
Song of Solomon 7:7 “This thy stature is like to a palm tree…” Palm trees tend to be tall and slender, often with a graceful curve reaching upward toward the heavens. This is an almost universally known fact and would be the most obvious reason for the King comparing his bride’s stature to a palm tree. Those of us who’ve been privileged to view more than pictures of these magnificent trees know the soothing pleasure that comes from watching a palm tree sway gently in the breeze. 
For most of us, palm trees speak of warmth…of tropical weather and refreshing fruit drinks…of relaxing times of vacation. For our family, who are annual vacationers in Florida, seeing our first palm tree as we travel south brings a great sigh of relief and excitement: “We’re here!” After twenty-four hours in the van, we can get out and stretch our legs! No more snow and cold…just wonderful warmth and sunshine! It’s easy to imagine the king’s delight as he watched his beautiful young bride, as slender and graceful as a palm tree, and anticipated the bliss of sharing in the warmth and freedom of her love. 
Researching palm trees also brings to light some other important (but perhaps less known) facts that provide rich food for thought. Most trees from more temperate zones, like these ancient olive trees from the Garden of Gethsemane, are exogenous, which means they grow by yearly adding layers of woody tissue. Age can be determined by counting the rings (one per year) seen in a cross-section of the tree. With age, the trees become wider and wider and the wood extremely hard and unbending. This characteristic is great if you are a tree hoping to be chopped down and turned into a durable piece of furniture, but it’s not so great if you want to continue living and withstanding storms. 
In contrast, the palm tree is endogenous, and its softest part is its heart. (In fact, palm hearts are nutritious and considered a great delicacy.) Palm trees send roots deep into the earth in search of hidden springs so that they can survive even in desserts. These characteristics make palms flexible and resilient. When our property was battered by tornado force winds some time ago, over twenty huge deciduous trees were uprooted and destroyed. In contrast, Alan and I were “privileged” to be holed up at an oceanfront resort when Hurricane Irene ravaged the coast of Florida some years ago. 
We watched helplessly as the sea began a frothy rage and boiled over. The large picture window in our room bulged, and the mirrors bounced on the walls. The waves and winds battered the palms mercilessly, and yet, they only bowed and bent, they did not break. When we woke up the morning after the storm had passed by, all the windows and the sunroof had blown out of our car, but the palms were upright and dancing in the sunlight again.
For a woman to be like a palm tree means that her softest part is her heart…which is a great delight for all who partake of her tender goodness. For a woman to be like a palm tree means that her age is not necessarily determined by her width! For a woman to be like a palm tree means that her tap root goes down, down, down deep to the hidden springs of Living Water where she will be nourished and anchored, so that even though the storms of life batter her, she’ll be able to bend without breaking and lift her head again to sparkle in the morning sunshine. 
Another interesting fact about palms is that they are one of the largest and most economically important families of the plant world, and in primitive cultures palms are a major provider of sustenance with a multitude of uses, including food, shelter, and clothing. Anyone who understands the supreme significance of the palm tree as a nurturer and sustainer for the world’s children can immediately understand another type of stature being discussed. “This thy stature is like to a palm tree,” could refer not only to his wife’s physical body build but also to his wife’s significance as a “tree among trees.” (See Song 2:3, where the bride compares her husband to a fruitful tree among the trees of the woods). 
As the palm is among the most valuable of trees, so is Solomon’s bride among women. Not only was she graceful and beautiful like the palm, she may well have risen to a place of great significance in the kingdom as a sustainer and provider for those under her care.
Do you remember the Hurricane Irene from 1999?
Summer Setting 