Growing Anyway . . .

So there is this tree in my back yard and being that God knows me better than I know myself he knows to speak to me through pictures, metaphors and life. Thus was this one tree in my back yard. 

This tree is just off of my back patio and is a pretty nice tree EXCEPT one thing. It makes me sick! It seems to grow something that my body does not like not to mention the mess it makes on the patio. So Sarah and I attacked it and although not without our own injuries, we cut down the three large branches that came out of the trunk. Let me just say that I am far from a professional landscaper and I don’t own a chain saw. But I was determined to destroy this tree. (Sorry to all of those tree huggers out there but that is the truth.)

I borrowed a chainsaw which I appreciated but it still was far from a good power tool! I cut that tree all sorts of wrong. Bad angles. Accidental cuts on several places over the trunk. And basically ripping one of the branches off! It may not have been pretty but the inconvenient, allergen producing limbs were gone. After all of that work however, we decided the rest would wait. I was exhausted but happy with our progress. 

That was a couple of months ago. Not being the gardener type I had no thought to the fact that it would go crazy replacing each of those branches with what seems like 200 new ones. I haven’t had the time nor have I had the energy to address it so I always say next weekend! And every weekend there is something else. Both for me to do and sprouting out of the tree. 

And then God spoke to the resiliency to which he has made his creations. Trees but even more so His children! Some of us have been cut at by mean kids on the playground (Sorry-I was the mean kid). Or by abuse. Or by tragic accidents. We have had darts from the enemy that have left us bare, broken and cut down. But that is not the end of it! Do you get that? No matter how we are attacked, injured or torn down-by our own actions or those of others, there is hope. There is more. With the living water that Jesus offers us we can continue to grow. Not only in spite of the destruction but because of the destruction.

I personally like to think that it goes a step further however. My tree was not just trimmed as I hear they should be (reminder . . . I am not a landscaper!), it was slaughtered in every direction. But despite that it has given more life than it ever did before. How cool is that? That when people do take chunks of your life away from you that you can actually push through that and grow more than you ever would have otherwise. It doesn’t make what one experiences any better or less horrific but God does work everything together for the good of those who love him and he can use us if we will let him! And for far more than we could have ever imagined!