All praise to You, Heavenly Father! It was a beautiful day. I had the energy to get some things done. You have blessed me beyond measure in so many ways!
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When Massey and I were hiking the other day, we came upon a tree. I said I wanted to take a picture of it, and he asked if I wanted to write about it, and of course, my answer was, “Yes.” 😊
There was no good way to get a picture of the entire tree. In the park, many of the trees are very tall. I had a hard time identifying a few because their foliage was so high that I couldn’t distinguish what kind of tree it was. I can identify a fair number of trees by their foliage and some by their bark. This particular tree is a cherry tree, I could tell because of its bark.
Regardless, it was very tall but as you can tell it was not totally upright. It was leaning on trees beside it. I could also tell that whatever had pushed it over had done it some time ago. If you look at the roots at its base, they are mostly encased in compacted earth. Also, there are a few of its roots that are broken but they have hardened with exposure to the elements and possibly traffic from hikers and wildlife.
There are two things that we can learn here. First of all, the reason this tree didn’t fall to the ground was that it fell onto neighboring trees. In our lives, we are going to fall. From a life perspective, there are multiple times in life where things beyond our control knock us down – illnesses, losing a job, accidents, death of someone close to us…and the list goes on and on. Sometimes it is our doing – accidents due to our negligence, investing our resources in unnecessarily risky endeavors, getting involved with people who in reality we should just avoid…and that list goes on and on, too.
Honestly, even when we are stupid or just a victim of circumstances beyond our control, many of us are fortunate enough to have friends and family who will catch us, support us, and love us through the most difficult of times.
Spiritually speaking, our loving Heavenly Father, is there to catch us as well. Even when others cannot (or will not) catch us, support, and love us, He will.
The other thing we can learn here is to not give up. We may stumble. We may fall, but we should always give it everything we’ve got to hang in there. The tree’s roots were not totally pulled out of the ground. To me, it looked like it just dug its roots in deeper to help keep itself from falling any further. That’s a bit of personification there, trees can’t think and physically act like that, but you get the point.
A few days ago, I wrote concerning Apollos that some dig their heels in regarding things they refuse to learn – “My way is right, and no one is going to change my mind!” But sometimes it’s beneficial to dig in your heels and hang on because it is the only way to survive! We can’t just give up and say, “Oh, well! What can I do?”
The Holy Spirit is there to shore us up and to help us hang in there! When the going gets tough, the tough get going! But we are blessed in that we don’t have to go in alone and we don’t have to go it in our own strength! The Holy Spirit is there for us on both counts! Lean on Him – He can take it – and call out for whatever you need to make it through – He will provide!
May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing [through the experience of your faith] that by the power of the Holy Spirit you will abound in hope and overflow with confidence in His promises. Romans 15:13 AMP
June 27th, 2022, Mon, 7:14 pm
