Vicki shares her thought for the week; don’t be an evergreen!

So this morning I was dropping my daughter off to school and she said to me, “Mommy, why do some trees not lose their leaves?” And to be honest, I was driving and I wasn’t really in a place to have a scientific investigation. So I just said, “Oh well, I think they’re the strongest ones, I think they’re the better trees.”

Do you know what? I’m not sure I gave the best answer there. And you know, isn’t the strongest tree the tree that makes it through winter? You know, that must be really tough. You’ve lost your leaves, you make it through the cold, the frost, but how beautiful they are when the leaves start coming back and they start coming back to life. And how dangerous comparison of the outside looks can be. I mean, I did, I judged a tree by how well it held on to everything.

How much more dangerous it is that we judge each other by how much we manage to carry or by maybe how we judge ourselves and how much we’re carrying and how much we’re able to do. And maybe we think that we’re disappointing God if we don’t have it all together that somehow we’re weaker or less worthy. You know, in 2 Corinthians 12, Paul talks about having this weakness, this disability and how he felt about, that part of him that wasn’t all together. And it also says about how he asked God to fix it, to make it better. And God said to him that actually God would be all the strength that he needs. And I love how The Message puts it. It says,

My strength comes into its own in your weakness.

2 Corinthians 12

And I think back to those trees and I’m about to go and pick my daughter up and I want to tell her that, “you know what, I don’t think the evergreen trees are the better trees. I think the seasonal trees show that beautiful love and power of God and, you know, it might go through the winter and it seems to lose everything. But when that season ends and it blooms and it’s beautiful and it’s more impressive because of what it went through.”

And I wonder what tree you are right now? Maybe you’re in the summer and you’re carrying all your leaves and everything’s fine and dandy and it’s blooming and it’s all good. Maybe you’re in a winter. Maybe it’s really hard and you just feel like you’re dropping your leaves left, right in the center and you’re just trying to hold on through the winter. But I want to say that you are just as worthy. You are just as valid and you’re just as loved by God and that God will sustain you through this season and what a beautiful and powerful and testifying bloom it will be when you reach that summer season.

So don’t try and be an evergreen, holding all your leaves, thinking that’s what everybody wants to see, thinking that’s what God wants to see. Remember through our weektimes, through our winter times, God can sustain us and bring us to the most beautiful bloom in our summer times. Have a good week.

Every week one of our members shares a short thought aiming to inspire you for the week. You can watch previous Thought For The Week videos by clicking here.