Trust The Huddle

So it turns out that penguins just might know the answer to survival. 

I watch a fascinating video clip online that explains the power of the huddle, and I'm suddenly realizing that this is the key to the soul's endurance. The reporter explains that scientists are studying penguins, endeavoring to understand why these birds can survive in some of nature's worst conditions and they're discovering a simple truth: there's strength in the group. They're called huddles - large congregations of male emperor penguins pressing together, sometimes by the thousands, in an effort to warm themselves in frigid temps dipping double digits below zero. The Antarctic winters are infamous. Yet these birds weather it...because they have each other. While existing temperatures can register as low as - 40F, toward the center of the huddle, temps have read as high 90 above! All because the cold can't be survived alone.

It's known that heat naturally transfers from the warmest object to the coldest and in the collective of community, love radiates and becomes its own kind of warmth, and what if we brought the weakest and coldest among us to the center and wrapped around them and became our own safe space from the harshness of life? 

The report show footage of this fascinating phenomenon while using the analogy of setting cups in snow and pouring hot chocolate in them. Using a thermal imaging camera, the reporter sets a single cup in the snow by itself - the ultimate picture of the solitary. She pours the hot chocolate inside it and the camera shows the heat immediately penetrating the cup. But almost as soon as she stops pouring, the cold of the cup's surroundings nearly instantly begin to cool it off, and it starts losing heat. At the same time, she has a group of cups intentionally touching one another and begins to fill those. The cups heat up right away but this time, thanks to the them sharing the warmth radiating from each other, the cups retain their heat, particularly those in the middle.

This is what the penguins know. And so they huddle. Pressing deeper and deeper into one another to share the warmth and help each other survive. Alone, the solitary one hardly stands a chance. But those in the group? Especially those in the center? Yeah...they are protected and they withstand. The ones on the inside rotate to keep from being overheated while those on the outside, press in harder to get some of the heat into their chilling bodies. 

I'm seeing it clear now - community is essential to survival. There is power in the huddle. Strength in the group. But so many of us would rather be the solitary, choosing to fight off the chilling effects of life's winter when we'd stand a better chance by being surrounded. And here these creatures of His are showing us the way to do life! And their Creator is reminding us all through them of the truth spelled out in Ecclesiastes 4:9-12: 

"Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their toil.

For if they fall, one will lift up his fellow. But woe to him who is alone 

when he falls and has not another to lift him up! Again, if two lie together,

they keep warm, but how can one keep warm alone? And though a man 

might prevail against one who is alone, two will withstand him - a threefold

cord is not quickly broken." 

If you want to survive life's hardships, find yourself a huddle. Don't be a huddle all to yourself - go find a belonging. Go search out community. For if you're alone, you'll lose your soul's heat. You'll lose your heart's courage. Because the winds, the storms? They'll come but you'll be fending them off by yourself and you'll get worn, lose strength. Lose hope. But if you're with the group, you can push deeper into love, deeper into Grace and feel the power of protection in more than just yourself. 

So those penguins? Yeah...they're onto something. The solution to survival is attachment and numbers. The stronger your circle, the stronger you. Because when you know you don't brave it alone, you believe and lean in. You trust. It's only when you leave that safety of the huddle that you go wrong. It may seem tempting to head off by yourself and think you've got this but, truth is, nobody can survive let alone thrive without others. When you're weak, when you're cold, when you're losing faith, press into the gift that is friendship. Press into the gift that is love. Press into the gift that is God. You'll still feel the chill. The winds will still howl. The snow will whirl and fall. Nobody is exempt from life's sufferings but when you weather the storm together, it's easier to take because you know you're not the only one.