By Victoria Ostrosky
She wasn’t surprised when it happened. Ripping her out by the roots was agonizing, but at her age, she had experienced many disappointments and much mistreatment. No longer beautiful or symmetrical, shivering through the previous winter’s sub-freezing temperatures for days on end, was the final straw. Already dead, or dying, she was unceremoniously discarded next to a city dumpster. It was an ugly place to languish.
Then something happened the tree didn’t expect. Several days passed, then a woman, fractured and scarred by many abuses in life, took pity on the dead tree. She didn’t have room in her own yard, but she knew her mother-in-law did, so she asked her new husband to put the tree in his pick-up truck, deliver it to his momma, and plant it in the ground, just on the off-chance that it might still be alive.
Her mother-in-law, now the new owner of a dead-looking tree, and who had her own life scars, watered the tree religiously every day. She checked the branches constantly for some sign of growth, but it appeared dead. Day after day, week after week. Nothing. But she continued watering it and hoping. Then one day she discovered a small swelling on a tiny branch. And each day as she continued her vigil, there was more swelling until leaves, one after another, pushed themselves outward and unfurled. Every branch displayed life until the tree was covered in healthy green leaves soaking up the sun, rustling in the wind, and dancing in the rain.
Enduring such extensive trauma, the tree’s new owner wasn’t sure if it would ever bloom again. One day, she noticed something that looked like it just might be a flower stalk with unopened buds, but she wasn’t positive. Within a few days, the first bright pink blooms opened as a testament to how much life yearns to flourish. Soon, the once-dead tree was joyfully sporting flowers from every leafy branch.
We are all broken and fractured and scarred by life, and we all desire to be healed and whole. Sometimes, to others, we may look like there’s no hope left. Time to walk away. No reason to waste energy and resources trying to fix what is unfixable.
But God, who is the giver of all life, specializes in repairing and restoring broken things. We need to always remember that each of us is valuable and worthy of love. Our damaged parts take time to heal. We need to extend patience and shower mercy on one another. “Bear one another’s burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ.” (Galatians 6:2)
Let us learn how to, at all times, breathe grace.
Author: Sowal Editor
Visits: 1
