On a prayer walk through the mountains, I came across the astounding sight of a tree that had been shredded by a bolt of lightning. The wood was splintered into long strips that utterly destroyed the tree through no fault of its own.
Not only was the tree affected but also a partial bird’s nest rested upside down in nearby bushes. A substantial scattering of acorns at the base of the shattered limbs attested to the stash an industrious squirrel had collected in a knothole when it had been vibrantly alive.
Others depended on that tree too and built their lives around it.
As I stared at the now-decimated tree, I felt a dark stirring in my innards. Sadness. Yes, that’s what it was. It made me sad. Because I related to that tree. Do you?
You, too, may be naively plodding along when lightning strikes out of nowhere and rips away the life you once knew, the life you considered safe and secure. Others depending on you are wiped out also. Suddenly, everything changes, and you’re not sure how to reconcile your massive losses with faith in a loving, caring, heavenly Father. You struggle to understand, to wrap your head and heart around the inexplicable.
I know you get it. COVID-19. Hurricanes. Loss. You’ve been there. So have I.
But you know what? As I stood before the splintered, ruined tree, I noticed a green shoot pushing upward from the roots. It was just a little thing, but it was green and alive, reaching upward toward the sun. It was hope. I knew it. I felt it in my guts. It made my eyes leak.
Life from death. Beauty from ashes. An unexpected way where there is none.
The same kind of hope that holds you and I together after devastation and destruction.
We may not understand our heavenly Father’s ways or His plans (or why He allows bolts of lightning sometimes), but He’s gracious to provide little green shoots of hope for rebuilding and fulfilling our divine purpose in the center of His will. Because regardless of our splintered exterior, our roots grow deep into His fertile soil of love.
And that, my friend, is redemption.
