This past weekend my husband and I drove to San Antonio to visit my aunt and cousin. It's a long drive, 560 miles, but we can do it in about 10 hours. Near where they live is a park where there are all these magnificent trees with the most incredible shapes.
I'm not sure what kind of trees they are - maybe mesquite? Anyway, some of them lean to the left, and some of them lean to the right. 
At first I thought it was hard wind that made them do this but one leaning to the right might be right next to one leaning to the left.
Some of them split at the ground and make two trees, or three or four.
Some of them lean one direction but the branches all go the other direction.
There are a few that actually stand up straight and spread out all around like you expect trees to do.
There are some that nearly lay on the ground....and some that actually do!
There are some that have these knobs or protrusions....sort of hard places where they've bowed out but then tried to come back to their original spot.
They made me think about life and people and how much we are like the trees. Don't you think we're just like the trees? Sometimes life blows us one way, and sometimes another. Sometimes we just have to lay down and rest a while before we get up and start over. Sometimes we have hard places in our lives, places where we go one direction and then, oops, decide we want to go back the way we were. But the trees always keep reaching up for the sun. There's so little water for them, so little nourishment where they live, but still they seek the sun. And they survive and they become beautiful and they even create a shady place for people and animals to rest. When we seek the Son we too survive and become beautiful. We might not be the tall, majestic tree...we might be the one that lays down on the ground part of the time, or the one that leans to the left or to the right. But He will spread our branches so that we too might give others a place to rest and to bask in His light.
There are some that have these knobs or protrusions....sort of hard places where they've bowed out but then tried to come back to their original spot.
They made me think about life and people and how much we are like the trees. Don't you think we're just like the trees? Sometimes life blows us one way, and sometimes another. Sometimes we just have to lay down and rest a while before we get up and start over. Sometimes we have hard places in our lives, places where we go one direction and then, oops, decide we want to go back the way we were. But the trees always keep reaching up for the sun. There's so little water for them, so little nourishment where they live, but still they seek the sun. And they survive and they become beautiful and they even create a shady place for people and animals to rest. When we seek the Son we too survive and become beautiful. We might not be the tall, majestic tree...we might be the one that lays down on the ground part of the time, or the one that leans to the left or to the right. But He will spread our branches so that we too might give others a place to rest and to bask in His light.
