Monthly Archives: April 2014

What My Tree Taught Me Today about Easter

Some of you may remember what I wrote inĀ August about the dying tree in my yard. (If not, it isĀ here.) As you can see from the current picture, the pruned tree is now sprouting new branches. I was beginning to wonder if this was going to happen since the tree looked completely dead for months.

The time it took to see these signs of life has been a great reminder to me about resurrection. We have all had experiences that seemed to take the life out of us. This happens when we lose someone through death or separation, when unwanted changes occur, when we are wronged by others for no reason, and in many other ways.

I know that a lot of this has been happening around me lately, and as this Easter weekend approached, God’s promise of hope was getting lost in the mix. Then I saw the tree, and I was reminded about resurrection: Life is on the other side of what appears to be death. The photo also shows the dark skies that are hovering above the tree, but blue, sunny skies are behind all of this and will soon be there again.

An even bigger lesson for me is understanding the time it can take between the experience of loss and death and the reemergence of life. I think one reason Christ died in such a violent way was so we would know that there will be periods that are unbearable, but we can get through these times. I imagine the day of the crucifixion felt like it would never end. We hear this through Christ’s words found in Matthew 27:46 and Mark 15:34: “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me”?

During those times when we ask ourselves how long we have to endure such dark days, I find there is peace in knowing that this is a necessary part of the process of coming to life again, of being reborn, of experiencing resurrection. Just ask my tree.