Food for the Soul


Long Live the Tree!

At my mother’s house, she uses satellite for her TV viewing.  The dish is situated on the roof and after some time, we began noticing the picture getting stuck or the signal getting lost.  After doing some indoor investigating, we trudged outside to see that an enormous willow tree had sprouted up at lightning speed right in front of the dish.  After trimming some limbs, it helped a little but eventually, the decision had to be made to cut the tree down.  I love trees.  I always have, even when I was a little girl.  I began to feel so sad about cutting this tree down.  But, my mother was insistent and as it is her house, I began sawing back and forth until finally it fell to the ground. 

Well, sort of.  You see, I didn't get it completely cut.  There was one little section that was still hanging on.  Yet, the point was to get it out from in front of the dish.  So, mission accomplished.  I knew it would be a matter of time before the leaves would begin to fall off and the limbs would slowly start to die away.  However, after just a few weeks, the leaves had not fallen off and the limbs had actually sprouted more branches all along its slender shafts.  I glanced over at the top where it had been cut and there were about ten more shoots growing at lightning pace once again.  The tree was still alive!

I began to think about how similar life is to that tree.  Things in our lives convince us that we are either weak or strong or not good enough or just as good as everyone else.  And we submit ourselves to situations that force us to give in and to be “cut off”.  These are horribly humbling moments.  The mirror has been placed before you and if you want to move on, you must look in front of you.  But, don’t you see?  You have been cut off, yet you are still alive!  You have been humbled, yet now you are at peace.  You were left for dead, but now you have more life than you ever did before. 

I have always believed that life is a gift.  Well…what are you waiting for?  Open it!

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