Crab Apple Tree

TO EVERYTHING there is a season, and a time for every matter or purpose
under heaven...

On my way to the mailbox this afternoon I noticed it. The big open space in the front yard of my parents house was very much out of place. There inside that strange openness, once stood the most magical, lush, twisted-limbed, crab-apple tree in all of Campton, GA! And now, nothing. This tree was a landmark in my childhood.
It was "base" in the game of freeze tag for us kids and it was the place where my daddy & I took my absolute favorite photo that I have framed. It is a great picture! I was about 7 or 8 years old, hanging from a limb,dangling over my daddy's shoulders. Both of our hair was a mess but we didn't care, we were loving life!

It was there in that tree I would play & hide for hours. In the summertime we would gather the small, tangy-tart crab apples for pies and boy did that tree produce! A few years back, an ice storm hit our little town pretty hard and caused the old tree to slowly die. Today as the bulldozer removed the remains of the stump and limbs, my heart ached and I cried. Am I really crying over a tree? I asked myself. Truthfully, it's the memories the tree holds & symbolizes. On a deeper level, it's the fact that you think the tree will always be there and over time something changes and it's gone. It's the reality that life & circumstances are ever-changing and this is never easy to face. My daddy told me today the tree was dead all the way to the root and it
was very easy to remove. I thought about this for a while so I guess that's why I'm processing tonight.

It's the same with our heavenly Father. If we let Him, Jesus will remove all the dead, fruitless places in our hearts so that we can fully become all He desires for us to be for His glory & purpose. His ways are higher - a lot like the new openness to the front yard. It doesn't seem or feel like it used to but there is a new, clearer perspective and a brighter future. So as the world shifts and changes, we can trust Jesus to hold us in His peace. I will always remember the good, warm and fuzzy memories of my childhood in the front yard, running bare feet as fast as my legs would go around the crab apple tree; however, I am old enough now to know that I have to let it go. Even in the midst of changing circumstances, I must keep walking forward and daily yield to His presence as He fills all the spaces inside my heart with His unchanging love for me.

Thanks for reading!
Blessings,
Carrie