Day 13 - Dead branches on our ash tree

This photo shows our home with a 100-year-old ash tree looming dangerously too close for comfort. Some of the branches are dead and rotted, adding weight to the fragile tree as it tries to stand upright and bloom its leaves towards the sunshine.

Last night, the winds howled through the neighborhood. They were so forceful, they were terrifying. My toddler, who was playing on her swingset in the backyard when the winds began to hurl themselves, ran to me with total fear in her eyes. I snatched her into my arms, ran into the house, and thought: I think there's going to be a tornado!

Of course, there's never been a tornado in our town. We live smack dab in the middle of mountain chains circling all around, like a donut hole sits our town. But the sky had turned an eerie color and the winds were the most ferocious I'd seen and felt in 16 years of living out here.

I immediately was concerned for our 100-year-old ash tree, already precariously bent over towards the roof of our home. Would it snap and crash into our home? Would we be safe?

Several hours later, and many forceful blasts of wind later, the ash tree stood tall. A few small branches lay on the ground, but it had stood tall.

How many times in our own lives have we felt like this ash tree looks: leaning precariously too close to danger and wondering what force will cause us to topple over and crash?

Thank God that He is our strength in times of potential disaster, to help us stand firm and help us remain rooted.

This ash tree definitely could use some major pruning. Pruning would take away those heavy, dead branches, would trim it in a way that it could continue to grow as God has intended it to grow...healthy, firmly planted....without fear of collapse and destruction.

Does your life resemble this old ash tree? Perhaps it's time for you to allow God to prune up areas in your life that are dead and heavy weights...to trim out those areas in your life that don't allow you to grow upwards and towards Him.

Are you willing? Or will you remain dangerously close to destruction? The choice is yours.

Colossians 3:1 says, "Seek those things which are above."

John 15:2 says, "He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit."