The Headwind — Does the Headwind Change the Destination?

Resistance isn’t fun. Honestly, it’s hard, especially when you can see the final destination.

If you’ve ever hiked a mountain, typically the first thing you do before you begin your journey is look up at the top. You see a beautiful skyline with trees, birds flying, fluffy clouds, and the sun backdropped by a glorious blue sky. The perfect day for a hike.

This vision before you gives you motivation and excitement to see it up close and personal—to be there, breathing the air and feeling the warmth of the sun on your face. However, in order to get from here in the valley to there at the top, you must face the resistance you will encounter as you travel higher.

We all want to live better lives. We want healing. We want change in the world around us. But are we prepared to feel resistance and keep going anyway?

A headwind is a wind that blows directly or substantially against the direction in which something is traveling. Because the wind opposes forward motion, it creates resistance and requires more energy, effort, or time to reach the intended destination.

This is where many of us lose stamina, especially the higher we go and the conditions get more difficult. So what do we do? Do we press on, or do we turn back?

Genesis 19:17, 26 (KJV)

“Escape for thy life; look not behind thee, neither stay thou in all the plain; escape to the mountain, lest thou be consumed.”

“But his wife looked back from behind him, and she became a pillar of salt.”

Lot’s wife turned back because she longed for what was. Even though where she started her journey was no longer the best environment for her to be in—chaos, trauma, corruption, undesirable conditions—as she walked away from the place, what she carried with her was grief, longing, and fear. That resistance became too much for her because what she was still trying to take with her was too heavy, and she turned back.

This is often what happens to many of us. We refuse to deal with what lives in us and with us. Many of us begin the journey before we’ve really dealt with where we are. We bite off more than we can chew. And the only way you can eat an elephant is one bite at a time.

Slowly. And with intention.

HERE — Acknowledge Where We Are

We’ve discussed the need to offload what we may be carrying that no longer serves a purpose in our lives, or to get rid of what never belonged to us in the first place. Which simply means we must acknowledge where we are.

Physically. Mentally. Emotionally. Spiritually.

Where are we as humanity? As a people? As a community?

And in each area, we have to do an inventory check.

We’ve all heard the common phrase, “You have to know where you are to know where you’re going.” We must honestly identify our starting point. Assessing the inventory of our minds, hearts, and souls helps us prepare for the journey ahead.

Most experienced hikers will encourage you to travel light. Because the heavier your pack is at the bottom of the mountain, the more you will feel the weight of it as you ascend.

Now, acknowledgment is not meant to bring you embarrassment or shame, but to put you back in control of what you are willing and not willing to take with you. Because, again, the headwind is coming whether you like it or not in order to get from here to there. Even if what we desire is peace or rest, we have to be honest and transparent with ourselves about how and when we stopped making those desires a priority.

Acknowledging where you are helps you prepare for what’s ahead. Or we can remain in the same place, carrying the same mindsets, injustices, and inequalities.

Will we respond accordingly by equipping ourselves with the appropriate items for travel?

Ephesians 6:11, 13 (KJV)

“Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.”

“Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.”

Acknowledgment brings clarity and laser focus. Now we can recognize the patterns we’ve created from circumstances we were born into. And that recognition helps motivate us to see and even dare to hope for what’s ahead if we dare to start the journey.

Proverbs 4:25–27 (KJV)

“Let thine eyes look right on, and let thine eyelids look straight before thee. Ponder the path of thy feet, and let all thy ways be established. Turn not to the right hand nor to the left: remove thy foot from evil.”

We must remain focused and vigilant. There will always be a pull to look in another direction, but in this season, we have to take the binoculars out of our packs as we climb toward purpose, change, healing, and restoration.

THERE — Know Where You’re Going

I wish I could say I’ve never traveled in circles or lived in seasons of cycles, but it happens.

I have blindly traveled many times, often without guidance or preparation. I’ve made decisions without seeking wise counsel or even speaking to God first, and I can tell you, nine times out of ten, I have felt the headwind that comes from the choices I made. Not because of a sinister plot against me, but simply because that wasn’t what or where my Creator was calling me to. Where I was heading would not lead me to the calling or purpose for my life.

Philippians 3:13–14 (KJV)

“Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.”

Sometimes I think we are moving just to be moving or going just to say we are in motion and not stuck or stagnant. We are living in a day where it is expected of us to be progressing or growing in some way or achieving some goal, which can put us off course.

But that striving for that thing—whatever it is: recognition from your peers or family, that need to be wanted or seen—is not the same as pressing toward the right goals.

Pressing—a steady motion forward against resistance—toward the goal or the prize is like following a compass leading you to the top of the mountain, to the destination.

Freedom, justice, equality, peace, hope, kindness, joy, protection, safety, forgiveness.

These are the reasons and motivation for pressing toward the finish line or the peak of the mountain.

But we can get lost taking an alternate path, forgetting to trust the Compass designed to guide us.

Proverbs 3:5–6 (KJV)

“Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.”

Have you ever taken the wrong path or experienced being lost? Or gotten turned around somehow?

You thought you knew the area, but then when you got there, so much had changed that you hardly recognized the neighborhood. Familiarity can convince us that we know the way, but we can quickly find ourselves lost, and a sense of panic begins to brew in our bellies.

Fear creeps in, and we are left feeling hopeless and abandoned. But all we have to do is turn from what we think is the right path to take and look up at the prize, at the top of the mountain, to the final destination.

BETWEEN — The Resistance

Mark 6:45, 48 (KJV)

“And straightway he constrained his disciples to get into the ship, and to go to the other side before unto Bethsaida, while he sent away the people.”

“And he saw them toiling in rowing; for the wind was contrary unto them…”

Trying to “resist” resistance is futile.

The headwind is coming. The wind will blow. There will be opposition. The journey will be difficult.

But let’s consider what resistance develops.

Rowing teams spend countless hours working on their cardio, weightlifting, and rowing exercise equipment, gradually increasing the resistance or weight so that they can become stronger and build stamina. So when they climb into the boat with their team, they have what it takes to push through treacherous conditions and the resistance caused by changes in the current’s direction.

When we face resistance, sometimes, yes, we may need to make a course correction because we got off track somehow. But oftentimes, we must endure and take the path before us, though it may be narrow.

Matthew 7:13–14 (AMPC)

“Enter through the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and spacious and broad is the way that leads away to destruction, and many are those who are entering through it. But the gate is narrow (contracted by pressure) and the way is straitened and compressed that leads away to life, and few are those who find it.”

The narrow road can feel uncomfortable because it forces us to encounter wrong thinking or unforgiveness we are holding in our hearts. It may mean holding on to a savior complex or people-pleasing identities that we are trying desperately to let go of.

The gate is narrowed even more because it is contracted by the pressures we will encounter simply because we started on this journey in the first place. And all of this is pulling at us like a magnet, trying to get us to turn back and head back to where we started.

This is where we give ourselves grace in the moments of pressure because the path may be hard, but it will lead to a life worth living.

A world where true liberty and equality can survive.

A life beyond fear or just surviving, but flourishing.

In our communities, churches, families, and our lives.

That is what awaits us after facing the headwind, pressing through the resistance, and building the resilience until we reach there.

COLLECTIVE FLIGHT — Facing the Headwind Together

Micah 6:8 (AMP)

“He has told you, O man, what is good; And what does the LORD require of you Except to be just, and to love [and to diligently practice] kindness (compassion), And to walk humbly with your God [setting aside any overblown sense of importance or self-righteousness]?”

Scripture clearly gives us a blueprint of how we should treat one another in this world: to be just, kind, and loving toward humanity.

Which means we can face the headwind together.

Each of us has an obligation to each other to do our part in changing the climate of the world. When each of us embarks on our own healing journey, we become a collective flying together, facing the headwind, keeping our gaze forward, and riding the current all the way to the top.