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?