Surprises!

All the trees of the field shall know that I am the Lord. I bring low the high tree, I make high the low tree; I dry up the green tree and make the dry tree flourish. I the Lord have spoken; I will accomplish it. Ezekiel 17:24

For you shall go out in joy, and be led back in peace; the mountains and the hills before you shall burst into song, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands. Isaiah 55:12

This is a picture of a redbud tree in bloom in my neighbors backyard. Spring was going along nicely for this tree, it was time for it to bloom out and it showed it's beautiful color grandly. But then what happened? Through no fault of its own, it snowed!

Snow! What is the redbud to do now? The tender buds shiver in the in the snow blown wind. Isaiah tells us that the trees of the field shall clap their hands. This redbud's 'hands' are shivering, not clapping. But Ezekiel tells us that the Lord is the Lord of the trees as well. What this redbud knows, as it has been here for a long time, is that these little hiccups like snow in the spring, is not too much for the Lord to handle.

There are times in our lives that something unexpected comes along. It may even seem to be almost devastating. We may wonder if God has forgotten us. We may wonder if we will make it through, but there is a lesson to be learned from the trees of the field. The snows will melt, the spring will return, and life will continue. The snow will melt into the ground to bring moisture to the roots of the tree. The sun will shine again, and even though there was the unexpected, the tree knows that the seasons will continue. They always have before.

How often we do not feel that life will ever be normal again after some catastrophic incident. It feels as if the cold snows of our lives will never melt, much less bring any benefit. We think that the catastrophe is lasting and devastating. If we only remember that we have faced snowstorms before, and we have come through. Have faith that the seasons will continue through our life and we must wait upon the Lord.

With the uncertainty of the current economic conditions, war and all that goes with it, we need to remember that the snows will one day melt. There is much to be learned if we wait upon the Lord.