Magnolia Tree

When it snowed a few weeks ago this particular tree, which holds a very dear place in my heart because it is a magnolia tree, and when we lived in California we lived on Magnolia Street, which was lined with magnolia trees and we could open our second story window and the aroma of magnolia's trees would flood in. When we moved here to the house in Oklahoma that tree was really like a gift from God placed there just for me. Anyway when it snowed a few weeks ago this poor tree got covered and covered with snow, and after that it got covered some more. I was shocked at how much weight these limbs could hold, they were literally dragging the ground. I was thinking about how this relates to hard times in our lives, they keep coming and coming sometimes and we feel like we cannot take anymore, and usually when we hit that point more happens. During this time I usually ask God "what are you thinking, do you see me down here physically dragging and feeling like I am hanging on by a thread?" You see during those few dark, snow filled days that tree really took a beating, it was weighed down with the weight of all that snow, but the snow, just like the hard times cannot last forever, because the sun did come out and as it did the weight of the snow melted away, at times you could hear the crashing from the snow hitting the ground, and the limbs came bouncing back as it soaked the sun into itself. The tree did go back to normal, probably with a few cracks in its branches but it held on and waiting for time to turn and the sun to show it's face.

The tree after the snow had melted off the branches.