Twists and Turns

As I was looking for birds to photograph in my backyard, I noticed this awesome branch in one of the white oak trees. I don't know if I have ever seen a branch with so many changes in direction. Obviously something happened every few years to cause the branch to take a turn in  a new direction. Maybe another branch provoked it to twist , or maybe someone intervened to cause a change in it's path. Whatever, the limb has continued growing, in spite of the challenges, and it continues to protrude into it's next phase. I doubt if trees have a growth plan, but I bet this one didn't expect so many changes on course.

How much like life is this. We, of course, have no plan at the beginning, we are dependent on others to guide and shape us and prepare us for the future. As we mature, we shape our own plans but things don't necessarily go as planned. How much like this limb would our life path look if we were a tree. Opportunity drives our direction and sometimes lack of opportunity. We move from coast to coast, planting seeds; hoping and wishing that things will go the way we plan. But it seldom does. Sometimes illness intervenes and causes severe alterations to our life scheme. No human life limb goes perfectly straight without twists and turns. We may look as curved and deviated as this tree limb as we veer through the obstacles that beset us. As for myself, I see a heavenly father waiting at each turn and providing a way to survive and waiting to lift me out of my circumstances.

I don't know about you, but if I were a tree limb, I think I might be even more twisted than this one. I have survived numerous attempts to divert my path, but I have persisted through the great hope that God provides. My faith sustains me and lifts me through every challenge.

What would your limb look like?

It must be spring

It always seems that winter will never end, the cold will not go away, the trees will not bud, the flowers will not bloom, the birds will never get warm; but every year it finally stops. The sun returns, the earth warms, the dirge of winter is slowly sapped away by God's grand plan, as all nature burst forth with new life and even the fowl of the air are energized to renew life, build nests, lay their eggs and start the cycle over again. It will take time for many to return from their warm hideaways, but many have stayed and endured the cold, the snow, the ice and other harsh rigors that have been thrown their way. We celebrate the survivors, the hardy ones who found some way to keep warm, the ones who instinctively forged ahead with a will to find a way to weather the storms of life.

Not unlike us, as we battle the diseases of life that threaten to take us away during the wintry trials that are thrown our way. We trust in a higher faith, one that always gives us hope in the direst circumstances, hope that God is still in control, hope that His promises are true, hope that we will be an example for others to see our faith in Him through our exigencies. Life is short for our little feathered friends on this earth, but hope grants us the strength to reach out for that which God has promised, eternal life. He watches over the sparrows of the field and He certainly watches over those who trust and believe in His word.

So never mind the winter storms that beset you, feed the birds when the storms are the worst, and your heavenly father will watch over you likewise. The trees are starting to bud now, the flowers are starting to bloom, the sun is shining and the great hope of spring is here. No matter what your plight, winter will end, it must be spring

 

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