31 Days: Pathway to Perseverance - Tough as Trees

I love fall. It is one of the things that is still such a surprise to my senses. My home state with even temperatures all year round never changed colors. But now, I am surrounded by trees anxious to display hues of red, yellow, and spectacular orange. No matter how tall or how strong the tree appears to be, one strong wind and the beauty streams across the sky only to become a pile of wonder for children who roll and play for hours.  All glorious, but all fleeting.

What remains when the leaves are gone?  Shiny trunks, branches with tendriled fingers stretch skyward waiting for the long work of winter. Soaking up the remaining sunshine before the blankets of white arrive. What becomes of the leaves? Eroding, melting into the earth, insulating and feeding roots before ice encases and freezes the ground.

Winter's sleep waters and refreshes even though storms rage and threaten to freeze straight through. It is hard work for the tree to lose leaves, then sit and soak, prepare for fruit. It takes patience and perseverance.

The fruit our lives produce if we have drunk deeply of God's Word will fortify and revive even what looks dead.  Even when the friendliest of creatures suddenly looks more like an enemy, threatening to bore holes and strip bark. Like a tree planted by the water, wounds cannot destroy. The deepest cut drips sweet syrup when we are filled with God's goodness. It is worth the wait.