Saturday, May 19, 2012

Seasons

January 22, 2009



so.
lately i have been talking to some people.
and God in all of His creativity gave me a pretty cool analogy that i think is just amazing and really helpful.
i myself have found myself in places like these and now sort of being on the other side i kind of wished i would have had this perspective back then.
so i thought i would share...


ok so trees.
i love them.
some of you like to laugh at this.
i would not call myself a tree hugger...but they are basically amazing.
and i think that we can learn so much from them.

and so it comes as no surprise that this little analogy stems (no pun intended) from trees.

so you know how in winter all of the leaves start to fall off the trees.
and it's a little sad because all of the color and life falls with them. and at first it happens a little bit at a time and gradually the wind picks up and the cold comes and one day all the life on those trees is gone.

and all of us walking around don't really notice all that much because it happens all the time and it's not really directly affecting us.

and the more the cold comes the more we wish that the sun would just come out again and the trees would just bud and be alive again.
but it doesn't happen over night.
the branches are bare for a while.
they are strpped and bare and cold and brittle.

but they are still alive.

and then one day. when we are least expecting it.
we begin to see those buds ever so slightly breaking through the branches.

and in what seems like no time, the life has returned...brand new..

and it's so refreshing and we are just so thankful to see it because the cold is so very real to us because just yesterday it's all we could feel.


i can't help but think this is just a little like our lives.
(imagine you are the tree)

we are just standing firm full of color and life and everything seems to be going as planned.

then something small just starts to get at us.
we press on a little more exhausted and our joy slightly depleated...
and then a few more tough situations and less than desirable events occur and before we know it or have the chance to stop it the life is just sucked out of us.
there is no more color or fun...we are just baring the cold and trying our best not to crack under the pressure.

and no one around us really gets it because they aren't in the same spot and they don't really feel it.

but both you and the passers by are hoping deep down that everything just changes for the better by morning.

but it just won't.
and as time passes we get a little colder and a little more brittle and we are just absolutely broken and dry and barren.

but we are still alive.

and then one day.
when we are least expecting it.
this little tinge of hope and joy puts a little bit of life back into us.
and almost in the blink of an eye....we are blooming again....with new life...refreshed and amazed because we don't even know how we got there....

but we are all so appreciative because we can almost still feel the cold...but the new life and warmth and sunshine is just so new and alive and strong that we understand why we had to endure the cold and the wind.

and all of those harsh bitter seasons are necessary. uncomfortable...but necessary.
in order for the new things to come... the old things must die.
the branches must be stripped and put through those conditions in order to prepare for the new life that will spring forth from them.

but they must endure a season.
a time of preparation.

and so must we.

but i am here on the other side.
in the sunshine and the warmth.
just encouraging you that the winter is worth it.
it is painful and it is dry and empty and bare and lonely.
but it is necessary.
and when that first ray of sunshine breaks through... 
you will understand.
 


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