Signs of Resurrection

This is the same tree, separated by one season. In the first the tree is weighed down by the ice. Ultimately the weight got to be too great and the tree broke and had to be cut back to the where the trunk was only 4 feet tall and there were no branches. Most of us had given up hope for this tree. How many Christians live life this way, burdened under more weight than we were ever created to bear? To the watching world it may even appear beautiful, but instead we are slowing bending ourselves until that fateful moment with it 'cracks' and all the ice that we've been carrying shatters on the sidewalk.

The second picture shows that if a tree remains doing what it was designed to do, soaking up the sunshine and the rain as they are given, then new life can spring back from even the most sever destruction. It is a sign of the power of Resurrection, that new life springs up from the original root. The reality is it will take years for the tree to recover from the damage of one season. The hope is that it will. The warning is that there is nothing stopping the tree from repeating this cycle in the future.

My time at seminary often has me feeling like the first tree, buried under the weight of so many expectations and demands. Yet God has used even the breaking to build me up healthier. And every once in awhile I catch a glimpse of fresh growth from the same tree. With God there is always the grace of Resurrection life.


Hopefully this is the first blog of my own Resurrection season.