We gather nightly for worship/devotion in the kindergarten room, where the 17 kids that live at the school are in attendance. I love the way they praise God. With eyes tightly shut, they loudly sing and pray to Jesus. I’ve never witnessed such passion in young ones before.
During one of these nights I imagined God as a tree, standing tall above all else in the world. I was at the top looking out at the surrounding dense forest, as i stood clinging to His mighty branches.
He reminded me to see the forest, not the trees. There is peace and clarity up here with Me. Don’t get lost and blinded in the chaos of the trees below. I’ve given you eyes to see past what’s right in front of your face. Climb up and see like Me.
My one on one with my squad leader, Erika, brought forth more truth. Don’t just seek growth, but embrace the growing. Seeing the forest at the top of the Tree while still being in the midst of the trees, is the growth. Climbing up the Tree, through the trees of this life is the growing.Their outstretched limbs, long and gnarled with distractions will claw and scratch you as you ascend higher and higher.
Maybe they’ll snag your clothes and grab your hair and maybe you’ll get stuck sometimes. Hugging the trunk, you might look down in fear that you’ll fall to your death. You will probably question why you even started this seemingly impossible climb anyways. Nevertheless, I can assure you that it will be worth it. Once you reach His heights and escape all the commotion, you will see for yourself.
“No soldier gets entangled in civilian pursuits, since his aim is to please the one who enlisted him.” – 2 Timothy 2:4
Some of you may be running through the woods looking for the Tree. Some have once seen It, but forgotten what It looks like and are now lost. The beautiful thing is that no matter how lost or frantic you are, if you’re quiet for a while, you’ll hear His voice calling out to you. In the midst of the turmoil you will hear Him through the trees guiding you home.
