Being Trees

We used to live in the mountains—4,000 feet up in North Carolina, where leaves blazed orange and red and yellow in the fall and snow would drop in the winter. Where summer was always at least 10-degrees cooler, and life was lived slower.

More margin. More breathing room.

Winter was always my favorite in the mountains. Yes I loved the snow, but more than the snow, I loved the winter trees. The trees that teemed with bright green life in the spring fell barren and vacant in the winter. Twisted trunks and spindly limbs intertwined, providing a stunning silhouette against a milky blue-white winter sky.

And because of those empty trees, I could see.

I can only see the mountaintops in the winter, when the leaves have fallen into soft piles at my feet. I only see the snowy peaks when the leaves have been broken and buried under the earth and the limbs have nothing left to offer. I can only see the thick band of sunset behind a rocky horizon when the limbs finally let go of what they’re trying so desperately to cling on to.

I think often in church world, we see people that are trying to be the mountaintops. But the more I walk with God, the more I’m convinced we are supposed to be the trees.

We try to be majestic and beautiful and awe-inspiring for God, when we’re supposed to be spindly and twisted and empty for others to see God through us. I think we mourn the falling of our own leaves, yet it’s when they’re stripped away that God can be seen through our silhouette.

We ourselves are evidence of creation, but sometimes we wave our leaves so much that we end up obstructing the view of the Creator Himself.

I think we’re just supposed to be empty trees.

Making the choice to walk with Jesus can feel costly, like He’s stripping away those leaves one-by-one. It can be painful, I can’t lie about that. But it’s always done with tender care. With love.

And it’s done with purpose, so when we see someone hurting, we can twist ourselves into a silhouette that gives them a perfect view of the Mountaintop.

Prayer: I’m scared to pray to be a tree, but I choose to believe it will be for ultimate good. Show me how to let go of the things I’m trying so desperately to hang on to.

Scripture: “So don’t hide your light! Let it shine brightly before others, so that your commendable works will shine as light upon them, and then they will give their praise to your Father in heaven.” (Matthew 5:16, The Passion Translation)