The Truth About the Leaning Tree
More
than fifty years had passed since I visited the small town in the foothills of
my youth. The hurricane like winds still howls down through the gorges of the
Cascade Mountains into this town. And one year as a teenager, I too was blown
in by fate with no choice of my own to live here.
“The Lord is good to those who
depend on him, to those who search for Him.”
Lamentations 3:25 NLT
With
no family, friends, and not even my faithful dog for comfort, I looked for
courage and strength to face the challenging days ahead. What I found one day
while walking to school was—a tree. Yes—a huge giant maple tree! I figured this
tree had survived centuries of storms and if the tree could make it —well, so
could I. I called it my leaning tree.
I
would stop and go lean against its strong tough old trunk on the way to school
and share what was on my heart. The tree seemed to bend down and wrap its arm
like branches around me. I reminded myself to be strong just like it. I felt
certain the tree would be there every day for me.
That
day while I had been visiting friends after so many years away, something in my
heart urged me to go look around for my old leaning tree.
I
stopped the car and looked around where I was sure the tree should be. Confused
I started to back the car away when something caught my eye and yet seemed
familiar. Laughter bubbled out of me and
I simply burst out laughing. The tree was gone and replaced with nothing less
than a bench and a historic marker! I
got out and read the plaque to discover that my leaning tree had blown down
just a few months after I had moved out of town!
The
tree was as vulnerable to the winds and storms of life as I was back then. I
laughed to think at the irony of depending on a tree for my strength to make it
through a difficult time. When at any moment it could have been blown down in
the next storm.
What
I knew for certain was God brought me here to this place to be reminded it was
He who watched over me, listened to my heart and gave me the strength I needed
in those days.
The
truth is it sometimes it takes us a long time to see all the times God has
rescued, guided and watched over us throughout our lives. How good it is to
trust in Jesus. And on this fateful day
when the tree was gone I was delightfully reminded— God alone is, and always
will be —my leaning tree.
“The
Truth About the Leaning Tree” by Dee Kamp, Grace Every Morning Ministries © revised
April 25, 2013
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