On Trees and Winter

I was thinking towards the end of this fall that once the leaves fell off our trees how there would probably be more sunlight in our house through the windows. That's when I realized it. It is so obvious, I know.  But how nice is God? He gives us green leaves to shade us from the hot summer heat and bare branches that let in that very sunlight to warm us in the winter.

Oh LIFE! During the "summers" or good times of our lives everything is warm and alive and green. God gives us leaves even for shade. Life is good. But then, in winter, it gets cold and the leaves fall and we ALWAYS remark about how dead the earth looks, naked trees, grey skeletons. But I realzed that God takes each leaf away for a purpose- to let sun light in. We see it as ugly but there is an actual purpose from a loving God. He is giving us more light and warmth in the cold. Do trees have to be full of color to be beautiful?

And so it is with the "winters" of our lives. Hard things happen- whether it be big events or a whole theme of "life sucks right now" and amid all the "cold" and "winter" we just see "dead trees" as further proof that all beauty is gone, but really, God is just trying to give us more light and warmth.

I think that to find WHAT the dead trees are in the first place can be hard- it will take a lot of thought and soul searching but once we find them we can see them for what they really are.

Maybe you can try and identify the "dead trees" and then you'll understand the ways that God is actually helping you out.

And I don't mean the "warm coats" and the "hot chocolates" either- but the things in life that seems to add to the misery that maybe actually aren't.

Just a thought. 

And here's what the bare trees revealed to us the other morning. True story.