The tree is me

Apr 27, 2009Heal from the past


The Lord spoke to me as I jogged by this seemingly dead tree the other day. I’m finally coming to the place where I’d like to write about it.

So much of my earlier years felt like this tree–decaying, dried out, devoid of life. Sometimes our early days go this way, don’t they? I’m not sharing this to point the finger, to blame, to even make sense of my childhood. Because today I am deeply aware that who I am today is resurrected from the decay of what once was. That, to me, is the beauty of this tree.

Because as I jogged by, the Lord reminded me to look up. Although the lower branches seemed stark and dead, the tree’s upper branches boasted green brilliance. Such life! Such new, spring joy! Springing from a seemingly dead tree.

Then He reminded me of my husband’s life-changing words to me. “Mary,” he told me. “My hope is that I can make the latter half of your life more beautiful, more full, more alive than your first half.”

He, by God’s strength, has kept his word. I have a vibrant, joy-infused life today. My trunk (and my humble beginnings) may bear the scars of a difficult past, but even so, life has sprouted. Alleluia!

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