She wasn’t surprised when it happened. Ripping her out by the roots was agonizing, but at her age, she had experienced many disappointments and much mistreatment. No longer beautiful or symmetrical, shivering through the past winter’s sub-freezing temperatures for days on end, was the final straw. Already dead, or dying, she was unceremoniously discarded next to a city dumpster. It was an ugly place to languish.
Then something happened the tree didn’t expect. A woman, fractured and scarred herself, took pity on the dead tree. She didn’t have room in her own yard, but her mother-in-law did, so she had her new husband put the tree in his pick-up truck, deliver it to his momma, and plant it in the ground.
The new owner of a dead looking tree, who had her own life scars, watered the tree religiously. She checked the branches daily for some sign of growth, but it appeared dead. Day after day, week after week. Nothing. But she kept watering it and hoping. Then one day there was a small swelling on a tiny branch. And each day she looked, there were more until leaves, one after another, pushed outward and unfurled. Each branch became covered in healthy green leaves soaking up the sun, rustling in the wind, and dancing in the rain.
Enduring such extensive trauma, the tree’s new owner wasn’t sure if the tree would ever bloom again. One day, she noticed something that looked like it just might be a flower stalk with unopened buds, but she wasn’t positive. Within a few days, the first bright pink bloom opened as a testament to how much life desires to flourish.
We are all broken and fractured and scarred by life, and we all desire to be healed and whole. Sometimes, to others, we may look like there’s no hope left. Time to walk away. No reason to waste time trying to fix what is unfixable.
But the God who is the giver of all life, specializes in repairing and restoring broken things. We need to always remember that each of us is valuable and worthy of love. Our damaged parts take time to heal. We need to have patience with each other and extend mercy to one another.
We need to learn how to breathe grace.
