A beautiful Ugly Tree I See

It’s my favorite tree in the fall of the year. I step out the front door and a splash of multi-color maple leaves against a backdrop of green oak leaves framing the maple. All framed by the sky and whatever the weather is doing at the time. A photogenic maple, in the fall only. Take a peek.

See what I mean? It’s just started to change color and it does it in sections. Reds, yellows and greens here

Each day I seem to enjoy a little more red or a little more yellow.

I must admit, I am partial to the reds in this maple. What a splash compared to all the other fall colors.

There is one glitch though. I find this tree hard to capture in a photograph. The look I want is hard to get. I have to frame sections of this spread out tree so I take many different pictures, framing them just so and cropping parts out I don’t want. take a peek at a few different angles of the tree.

Still pretty but losing it’s glory

Now on to the ugly part of the tree (in comparison). Right now the tree stands almost empty of leaves. So far I have refused to take a side view picture of the tree. It’s an old maple, leans and the body of the tree is crooked and unbalanced. It only looks good from the front. I have framed the tree in pictures to make it fit my purposes.

I was setting up my camera on a tripod with a big lens for a close up photo and a not so comfortable insight tapped me on the head, right through my thick stocking cap (and yes my thick skull). I do that with God. My perspective of God changes with the seasons and with the circumstances all too often. Somehow, when my perspective changes, I think God is the one who has changed.

When life is going really well, God is a good and beneficial God. God is with me at all times and is answering all kinds of prayer. When we were life flighting my daughter, God didn’t seem to want to be hear our pleas or even get on the plane (from where I sat). God is a God of little miracles. He will help a relative find their Contac lens in a miraculous way. God has saved our daughters life so many times but not healed her of the cause in her crippled body. God let a saw blade fly off a machine and cut both my arms to the bone, and then he saved my life. And, so, I frame God from my perspective. As a young boy trying to get my fingers to work after all the nerves in my arms were cut off, others could trust God wholeheartedly because they only saw the front view of God. Yet, God was an old leaning tree to me at the time.

Our perspective means everything and we trust our perspective. If we think our perspective has not been framed by any one or any thing but us, we are very wrong. The game in politics is to raise the most money for “framing” one’s great “colors” while discoloring the opponent. Advertising is a trillion dollar framing business in “brand recognition”. I have the best looking maple tree every fall and I frame pictures to prove it. Jesus just comes along and says “follow me”. We have had some very lopsided conversations on how he has framed my life. His answer is the same “follow me. I did and I have.

My wife and I had a rare glimpse of God’s framing when Our daughter was three. She went into septic shock. Her last words as we were going out the door to Emergency “mommy the lights went out”, then she went unconscious. No blood pressure, not enough blood to brain, c-scan ordered, The mobile unit c-scan came (his choice as he didn’t have to). Mobile unit guy thought the little girl would die in his unit so he made a bargain with God. “God if she lives, I will take my family to church in the morning”. She lived, the four of them went to church (of all places our church and they were praying for our daughter). They heard the gospel and turned over their lives to God, all four of them. Those in on the story being lived out by us, took a peak of life from God’s perspective. Sometimes that looking glass is quite foggy. Sometimes, more like most of the time, that view is beyond our eyesight. Jesus still offers the best framing from an eternal perspective and says “follow me”

When the back side of life is ugly and we cannot frame nice colors anymore, when beautiful people are finding Contac lenses in miraculous ways while our loved ones are losing their memory or in chronic pain or fighting to stay alive. Remember the one who framed our sin on a cross. Follow Jesus and let him frame life’s circumstances, events, issues and relationships. Know him through his word (the bible) and know him personally through his life in you. A living breathing relationship with our creator. The same one who made those red leaves and put them there. He then gave me the artistic desire and ability to frame so carefully and think I’m good.

This old guy can still dress up nice but I don’t stand as straight and I lean to the left and am not as balanced as before…Good one God.

Gary

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