The Forest

During the holidays I saw Bill sitting on a bench next to the beach. He was looking at the people enjoying their day in the sun. He appeared to be lonely and I sat down next to him. We started chatting. After a while, he told me a story.

“A ranger walked into a forest one day to find the most beautiful tree. The forest was so dark and dense, the rays of the sun seemed to be banned from the carpet of leaves and small plants on the ground. Deep in the bush, he found what he was looking for, the most beautiful tree he had ever seen.”

“He was so glad, but he suddenly started wondering what he was going to do with this tree. It was too big to uproot and take home. The only thing left to do was to claim it. He took his pen, wrote his name on it, and added the words: ‘This tree is mine’.”

“Soon however, the rain washed his name off the tree, but he still longed to be close to the treasure he claimed to be his.”

Bill looked at the people around us and said, “We are like trees in a forest. Some are big and have all the light from above. Some are small and live in the shadow of others surrounding them. Some are what we call ‘mine’ but in reality they are not, and we are all alone. I found one a long time ago and thought she was mine… I was wrong.”

“So you see, when you look at me everything seems fine. However, unseen to the naked eye, bruises and loneliness are hidden deep inside. Every single person is hiding something painful somewhere.”

Bill stopped talking and after a while we parted and went our different ways.

Jesus revealed to me why I had to experience this and why I heard Bill’s version of the forest. God created everything and He is still doing that. Every person is born through the miracle of childbirth and every child receives his physical characteristics form his parents…. but his spirit comes from God. Every newborn receives a spirit newly created by God.

Some people have grown old and are withered; some are young, but sadly, withered too. The spirit of man cannot age but it certainly can bruise. In our forest, we often find even juvenile trees with broken branches and withered leaves.

Some bruises are obvious but most of them can only be seen through the eyes of the Holy Spirit.

Jesus wants us to look for the bruised “trees”. It is more urgent than ever before to get ourselves trained to walk in the Holy Spirit by acknowledging our own spiritual nature and then look after the needs of other people.

Ask Jesus for a spiritual eye test and a new pair of spiritual glasses to tend to people in your part of the forest.

If you are one of those bruised trees, don’t be afraid to put up your hand.