Take the time to watch this video, . This video was made when Wilderness Preacher began back in 2014. Wow! Lots of water has passed under the bridge! Through a story it reveals what this blog/website is all about. It’s not all about me, but in the sharing of everyday stories with you. After watching this video, leave me your comments, suggestions, and even your own stories. Your opinion is vital. How can WE continue to improve this website? It belongs to you as much as to me. See Ya!!
Hebrews 13 :16 And do not forget to do good, and to share with others, for with such sacrifices God is pleased.
The picture is of my 3 year old young, fragile quaking aspen trees, but it’s also a picture of the approaching storm headed straight for us in the background. Pretty little tree is about to be hit with hail, 50plus mile an hour winds, pelting rains, and more hail. Yet it will bend…….. and not break.
Not so with some of the other trees and limbs on our Higher Ground property. This Colorado storm packed a pretty good punch. A couple trees uprooted, several limbs broken, needles and pine cones everywhere,……. and I’m still looking for my bird feeder!
But the small young fragile looking quaking aspen tree has no damage. I watched it sway back and forth. I felt that at any moment it would snap. It wouldn’t surprise me if the leaves would go from “quaking” to torn to pieces and gone!
The leaves are designed to “quake”. That is, to shake back and forth as the wind blows. This movement gives aspen trees their name (Quaking Aspen). It’s also what gives them such an attractive appearance. It’s very soothing to be under an Aspen tree and hear the movements of the leaves. ( Time out for a nap 😉 )
So, my fellow Christian believers, we need to be more like that bending not breaking Aspen tree. When the storms of life are upon us we also should bend, not break.
How can we bend in our Christian witness? Isn’t that a sign of weakness? Well, let me compare your walk as a Christian to the way of my little Quaking Aspen tree.
This Aspen tree has a strong root structure. This provides nourishment,…… and stability. Strong roots allow the tree to make a stand. You have spiritual roots planted in the reading of the Bible, roots growing from praying to God, and roots being established from BEING who God has created you to be. Each and every day they grow further to provide even more spiritual nourishment,….. and stability. You have a rock solid foundation being built by your faith and trust. A tree that is all show but with no foundation is one that, ……. well, that’s the one that’s uprooted in my yard.
But your saying, “Yea, I get it, but in today’s world you can’t let people push you around. You can’t let them get away with their way of thinking when it goes against my beliefs. Take a stand! Fight back! Give them a dose of their own medicine!” Careful, Careful! That’s what happened to those other trees in my yard. Slowly over time these trees had become hardened, brittle, twisted, and hollow. They then were damaged when the storms came. Their weaknesses were shown when the storm attacked.
So how is my little Aspen tree able to withstand the storms. It stays flexible! This is not a sign of weakness, but of strength, …… Super Strength. The only way it can be flexible (above ground where everyone can see) is by having a strong immovable foundation. The roots are strong, very strong.
Those fragile branches and delicate leaves are focused on one thing……. Growing constantly towards the Sun! There’s the secret to being “flexible”. In our spiritual growth we must constantly be reaching and growing to the Son Jesus!
Sure, I myself get it. We must be rock solid in our beliefs. But understand what I’m saying. Someone who may not believe as I do will not see my rock solid trust and belief. They will only see my “fragile branches and delicate leaves”. They will see my (and your) reactions to the storms of life. If my focus is on following the Son/Sun, then my focus is not on the storms of life ( differences of opinion, hardships, insults, injuries,) Think about this…… when someone or something makes you mad, what happens? Yep, admit it. You snap! You break! You lose sight of the Son Jesus and focus on the hail/ hell that’s being thrown at you. That little fragile quaking Aspen just keeps on being God’s creation. It doesn’t try to run away from the storm, outdo the storm, or even beat the storm. It just remains “flexible”. Bending but not breaking as it grows towards the Son/Sun!
But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ 2 Peter 3:18
I was feeling sorry for my little tree during the storm. Then I realized how it was showing a mighty strength and power in the middle of its storm by bending not breaking. I suddenly felt a little sorry for me (and you).
We have a challenge before us. Most people can’t see our “roots”. They can’t see or understand our faith, our trust, our beliefs. But they do see our “fragile limbs and delicate leaves”. They do see how we respond to the storms of life. My prayer is that we do show them that we are growing each and every day towards our Savior.
“Dear Heavenly Father, Thank You for my little Aspen Tree. It helps me to see how I should grow towards you. This will help me to withstand the storms that come my way. Help me to grow a rock solid root structure in you. Help me and my friends with our unbelief. Help us to remain flexible and not “snap” at whatever is being thrown at us. I ask that our witness to others will reflect a growing closer to you. There are times I may look like I’m weak and fragile, but may my fragile and delicate witness be for You and Your Glory! You’ve not promised to keep us away from the storms, but you’ve promised to be with us IN these storms. I thank You for that. I sure do love you God!Amen”
This butterfly knows where to go. He can actually see where he needs to go. He can see through this problem stopping his journey. But in no way can he himself actually “go” through his problem and be rid of it. He’s going to have to have help. This butterfly is “trapped”, “confined”, “stuck”. There’s no way out! Ever been there?
I’m putting up new screening on the porch at the log cabin in Mississippi. I’m halfway completed with the project, when this butterfly flies in. He comes in where there is no screening yet and flies to the inside of the section of screening that I’ve just installed. You can see that the situation has made him totally confused.
Now, I don’t know how big a brain a butterfly has, but it’s running on overload at this moment in his journey. He can see the flowers in the yard. He can see where he needs to go. But he can’t “see” how to get out of where he’s trapped. That poor little butterfly brain is thinking, “all I gotta do is fly from this side to the other side”. It’s not going to work little butterfly. You can’t fly through the screen. You can see through it all day long. But, you need help.
The LORD is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit. Psalm 34:18
I’ll save you little butterfly. He is so fragile,…… but so beautiful. What I do is this. I gently cup my hands around this delicate creature. He’s now inside my grasp. I’ve got him. I feel like I’m saving this butterfly from his own torture. He now won’t have to constantly fly into the screen over and over and over,……. thinking that somehow he’s going to fly free.
Carrying him outside for his release into freedom, I’m thinking. We need orchestra music playing in the background. This is a tremendous moment in this butterfly’s life. He will be ceremoniously lifted into the skies. I’ll open my hands and raise them into the blue sky and he will victoriously fly into the open air. “Freedom !” I yell. Wow! This has really become theatrical and there will probably be a whole movie made from this one scene of freeing the butterfly. 😉 Emotions are running high as I open my hands, the butterfly sees he can leave, and now it’s up to him.
He flaps those beautiful wings of his and he’s up and away. I’m yelling like it’s a football game and he’s breaking away for the touchdown. “Go butterfly Go!” (Hey, nobody’s around to see or hear me.) And he does! He flies away making a big circle (making a victory lap I suppose). He continues flying and flies…………well, flies right back inside the porch to the inside of the screening where he was in the very beginning. Once again he’s stuck.
Sometime you are the butterfly. You get “stuck” in life. Oh, you can see where you should be. Just like that screening, you can even see through your problem. But your problem is hiding an even bigger problem. You are not able to do it on your own. That’s, yep, that’s your real problem. It’s tough for a butterfly to admit that they need help. Your problem is not just a “screen”, but in realizing that you need help along the way.
The LORD is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit. Psalm 34:18
God will help you and wants to help you. Focus on God’s will, not on the screen. He’ll free you time and time again if that’s what you need. God will wrap His loving hands gently around you. How? There are so many ways God works in our lives. It may be from a song you are hearing. A sunset, a scripture, an interaction with another person. Or maybe a story about a butterfly.
See Ya! Dan Ainsworth wilderness preacher 601-832-8567
