Tangled

There is strength and there is beauty in the gnarled old tree. With each passing year another branch forms and begins to add to the character. The twists and turns all seem to lead back to the strength of the trunk and the nourishment it provides yet there is more. The leaves burst forth in color to provide beauty and shade yet there is more. The passerby may pause and take in its beauty but not even give thought to what is unseen.

What is unseen in the beauty and strength of the gnarled old tree? From where does the tree draw life for survival? In rain and snow, cold and hot. Season after season the tree remains steadfast and beautiful for the passerby but it is not because of what the traveler sees.

Under this tree is a vastly more complex and deeper unseen system of roots that draw nourishment and water upward to provide the beauty that is seen. Many branches all leading to one trunk that becomes once again a complex and twisted web below. Without the connection to the trunk and down to the roots this tree would no longer survive.

Is your life solidly rooted so that you can bring beauty to those who pass by? Are you producing fruit because of the unseen source that it is connected to?

"I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing."
-John 15:5

Are you plugged in?