new life

The dead tree's dry broken branches pointed toward the sky like someone frozen in their outcry for help. Its destiny is only to continue to weaken until it is felled either by a wind or by the steady pull of gravity.

Yet life in other forms continues in and on this lifeless hulk, for it offers a resting place for passing birds, a food cache for the woodpecker and food for the termite when it falls to the ground.

The live trees around it have dropped their leaves in preparation for their winter's sleep. These leaves will begin to break down and form enriching mulch for the soil. When the leaves fall from their branch, they leave a bud that promises a continuance of life in the next season - because hidden within the bud are the tiny semi-formed leaves for next year's growth.

Hidden within the true Christian is the seed of life placed there by the grace and power of God through the obedience of Jesus Christ. At death this will burst forth into a new life that we now can only imagine. This is one reason my mind is so super-charged by God's creation, because it is an illustration of continuing life - which is exactly what we have by faith - fullness of life here and then forever with God. ec