Continuing to Grow

We had a hard winter with snow this past year. The man that plows our driveway finally had to bring a back hoe to lift the current snow over the large hills already formed by his snowplow.

And in the spring, when it finally melted, we realized that our fledgling apple tree, south of the driveway, was the recipient of all that snow. Piled directly on top of the tree.

It was cracked and broken in so many places. But I got my duct tape out, securing all the branches to the main stem and then placed a sturdy post next to the tree and secured the tree to the post.

There are little apples on the tips of the fragile branches. I checked today.

The tree is growing. It is drawing life from the main trunk and the roots that go deep. A foundation that was not destroyed by an unforgiving winter.

The Lord encouraged me this morning with that tree.

As I was sitting and reading the Word this morning in my garden room He brought my little tree to mind.

We live in a world of violent clashing kingdoms. All of our days spent in the midst of a great battle, whether we know it or sense it or are completely oblivous to it.

And yet, God's intentions towards us are life, and peace, joy and contentment. But those intentions are opposed.

We can not bury the past, our pains, our sorrows, our disappointments. Abundant life does not work like that. But we can pick up our weapons and look not on the things of this world, the seen, but on things which are not seen, the eternal things. Things which are seen are temporal, temporary. So maybe sometimes we will not be moving forward as in a battle. But we will stand. God tells us that in Ephesians 6; He is able to make us stand. And sometimes it is enough to just stand.

I read the other day Psalm 94:19 "In the multitude of my thoughts within me, your comforts delight my soul." And I thought, What are my comforts?

My comforts; a foundation, a root system, just like my little apple tree, that is continually giving us strength, nutrition, power, energy to go on. despite our times of agonizing sadness and inability to bring Elizabeth's Christian back. This, this is not just a little scraped knee that Mom could help with a kiss and a bandaid.

But our foundation; a comfort long developed, continues to supply our daily needs. God's love, his mercy, his patience and his everlasting presence. Bringing health and life and eventually fruit to the broken and cracked branches of our lives.