A good friend just put this on her blog
Which neither of us can take credit for.
It is just so beautiful. I wanted to re-post it
so I would always have it to go back too.
This was written by Megan Burton. Thank you for writing this.
There I looked upon the hill and saw the skeleton of a tree. It was dead, barren, lifeless. Full only of sorrow and shame. Where leaves were meant to rustle, silence swallowed hard. In place of fruit, scars ran deep along its hollowed bones. Alive as merely a shadow, it stood abandoned. It had no gardener, no one to tend these scars. No one to speak life into the echoing silence of shame. Its roots searched for life, but found none. Strained and ruined, they too withered and dried. Upon the hill stood a carcass, a remnant of life once tasted, an empty reminder of what was once upon a time.
And so I turned and asked the LORD, “Lord, what good is this tree? Long has it been dead – even longer has its leaves covered the ground rather than its branches. Lord, it stands worthless. It stands without fruit. It stands, forsaken of beauty and withering in shame. It provides no shade, Lord. Its branches shrink with the coming sun. Lord, it has no life. What good are its roots? What good is its seed? It does not satisfy the weary with respite nor fruit.” And again I turned to the LORD and said, “Lord, it has no life.”
And the LORD GOD ALMIGHTY, the SAVIOR AND REDEEMER OF ALL THE WORLD, answered me. “Do not be deceived. You behold no leaves, yet. You see no fruit, yet. It satisfies not now, but too eager are you to call my creation worthless. Oh, how long will you look on with eyes of flesh? How long will you look and still fail to see? How long will you strain to listen and continue not to hear? How long will you call out questions and refuse in your heart to understand? Forget what you have seen, Beloved, and hear the truth. All of creation is rooted in me. From my breath, life is restored. It is not dead, O Loved One. Its roots run deep into Living Water. For I have chosen to bring life into this tree, not for the work or effort it has put forth. No, not for any effort on its own, but because I am GOD. I am the LIVING AND BREATHING GOD. And so this tree shall be living and breathing according to My Name. It shall shade the weary. It shall satisfy the hungry with sweet fruit. It shall satisfy for I satisfy – and not only so, but also shall it bring glory to My Name. Beloved, turn your gaze toward the hilltop and see. It is no longer without life, but sustained with life to full.”
And so I looked. Upon that hill, bathed in the warmth and grace of the LORD MY GOD, once dead, broken, without life, full of shame and guilt, choking on rage and withering with bitterness, now stands a tree with life. Sweet and satisfying fruit hangs from its branches. Syrup like honey drips from its bark. What all scorned, considered wasted, dead, without value, hopeless and weak and forgotten, GOD THE FATHER looked upon with love. By grace, the tree stands lacking no good thing. By grace, what once was dead, now is alive. By grace, what was nothing now becomes new. By grace, the broken are redeemed. By grace, the orphaned are made heirs. By grace, we know GOD.
Praise the LORD, the LORD GOD WHO REIGNS forever and ever, Amen
2017.
8 years ago
