From An Older Tree To Younger Trees – Joy Cometh!

The other day I thought about trees in winter and wondered about their lives in winter; that season when the weather is so cold yet all their leaves fall of and they are so bare, fully stripped and exposed without any kind of adorning. I wonder what they would be telling us about winter if they could talk and I imagined that must be the season they hate the most but if there was no winter in their lives, there probably would be no summer and vice versa. Every season of life is of the greatest importance to every tree. Life really does change for every living being and as God says there will always be that season when one can plant and that season when one can harvest; for it was all ordained by God so that it is forever. Just like with the trees, every season of life is great and ties in with the next; greatly impacting on it so that it is best to let every season play out and naturally filter into the next. I must admit that several times in life I have tried in my strength to change the seasons I did not like and/or struggle to hold on to a season that I enjoyed very much but it ultimately becomes something I regret doing because such actions never facilitate our going forward but I thank God for His great love that makes Him constrain us to go through those seasons because there are benefits from doing that. Each season has its own experiences and we have to respond to each experience appropriately tough as that may be sometimes. One thing I know though, is that there is always sufficient grace to come through successfully. Joseph did it and he was man like us.

Genesis 8: 22 “As long as the earth remains, there will be planting and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night.”

Ecclesiastes 3: 1 “For everything there is a season, a time for every activity under the heaven.”

The world over experiences weather changes though different parts of the world experience different extremes and in some places different seasons last a little longer than others but there is summer, spring, fall and there is winter though they may be called different names. In the part of the world where I live, it is either hot, rainy or harmattan but at one point or the other, trees shed leaves in preparation for the next circle of fresh life. Despite that the leaves are a nuisance to the environment, they add to make the soil even more nutritious. There are seasons in our lives when God prepares us for a higher level of life’s circle though in those seasons of preparation we go through things that make us forget that the experiences are facilitating our going forward and the establishment of the will of God and God is also working in us to prepare us to properly carry ourselves in the greater season which is ahead. Indeed like the leaves there may be a huge amount of shedding but some shedding add to improve the quality of our lives just like the dead leaves improve the earth. More than we know, we often carry a lot of baggage that we can’t take into the next level. Trees are laid bare at times like that but that is how our lives must be made bare in some seasons so we can properly judge ourselves as we prepare of the next season. God removes anything and/or persons that need to be removed because we need to come to terms with some truth about us. A tree laid bare has nothing to hide anymore and can hide nothing even if it wanted to because all its' covering has been taken off but all for a good cause. At times like that the tree is most vulnerable but God needed that vulnerability to perfect His work. The tree, at such times, is also unable to provide all the benefit it used to provide so that everyone that benefited from it may think it is no longer useful but God allows it to give the tree room to “recalibrate” but it must keep reminding itself that there is spring and then another summer coming otherwise it may “faint”. Unfortunately, some people who benefitted from it, would cut it down at such times because they don’t see that there is summer coming.

Proverbs 4: 18 “The way of the righteous is like the first gleam of dawn, which shines ever brighter until the full light of day.”

Micah 7: 8 “Do not gloat over me, my enemies! For though I fall, I will rise again. Though I sit in darkness, the Lord will be my light.”

Interestingly, I can imagine what the trees are thinking in summer. If we could be a part of their conversation we would probably hear the older trees reminding the younger trees that fall and then winter are round the corner. Whilst those who use the trees whether for good or bad are having the best time with the trees because they are at their height and so are profitable again to many, the trees must remind themselves that the winter comes - that weather one goes through alone and a wise tree is afraid to be proud in the summer because of what it knows. Jesus went through it and alone too. I guess the first time a tree experiences winter after a great summer, it is very tough and no matter how much other trees would have tried to prepare the young tree for winter, he probably would not understand because “life just seems too “wonderful” and one can’t imagine it ever getting bad especially when they started talking about the difficult times even before summer, how can you ever imagine how bad winter could be. When in fall, they tell the young tree that it would get worse, reality then begins to hit hard but the older trees are prepared. The one word of comfort from the older trees would always be after one complete circle, you come up higher. Every level brings a better life and that is my word to every one going through difficulty and this is notwithstanding government policies.