From The Woods

Posted on by Gary Fultz

morning sun eml

I’ve been in the woods and quite absent from the internet. I’m noticeably different (self diagnosis). Seemingly random thoughts tug on my mind while winters crystals defy the sun. The winter sun’s angle allows the snow to direct any radiant heat back into outer space. The sun has gone south for the winter. It’s below freezing.

I wonder about the winter seasons in my life, when the Son seems ineffective in my life. My life’s edges are frosty and cold to those around me. I am indifferent. Maybe I should get closer to the Son??

frozen pond cpeml

A beautiful little pond, frozen in the woods. I’m sorry for all the brush in the way, it just grows up and multiplies. Before you know it the brush gets mighty thick, thorny and impassable in ones soul. Life is like that you know. Sometimes our beauty is hidden or terribly neglected. Cute little sprouts take over one’s life. Sometimes our prayer should be “Lord please brush out my life, I place it in your care”. It may hurt.

leaf and buds emlSomehow, when we think we are just a branch with one ole dried up leaf hanging on in the cold, God brings forth buds. They are there. It may be dormant in the cold but packed with nutrition for lives looking for browse. I’ve watched deer and grouse eat these like candy.  Like the pain of thawing out one’s frozen fingers, Thawing a heart is really tough. I know.

So I let go of the last dried up frozen leaf. Let my trophies go. It hurts.

  I Let the new creation bud. I Let those who may browse. I Let go and face the Son.

Sparkling woods eml

I Face the Sun and the woods glows in it’s light. Every frozen crystal reflects it’s Glory.

I encourage you to let the Son come into your life and take complete control. Even in your seasons of coldest winter you can glow in His radiance. I know. I’m quite different (God’s diagnosis).

“Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new” (2 Corinthians 5:17)

night sky eml

I shall meet again with my God in the morning as I do every morning. Winter in one’s soul is just a season. Sometimes in life’s coldest moments God lays his hand on our heart. I know.

Gary

 

21 thoughts on “From The Woods”

  1. Great post Gary. Been feeling the same way myself. Though I haven’t been physically in the woods for many moons I know the season for we face it being confined in this tiny motel room.

    You are so right that it is just a season. That simple concept is like water to a dying man. Thank you.

    Bless you my brother.

    Homer Les

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  5. This was absolutely beautiful. I love how you contrast nature and seasons with our faith walk. It was a great reminder personally that the winter in my soul is just a season.

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    1. Thanks Stephanie. It is just a season but it’s easy to keep some of winter (like a trophy) in our hearts freezer. Sadly, I know about this. Sometimes I think the best 5 words are “and it came to pass…”

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  6. Such a beautiful post! We do face many ‘winters’ in our lives. It is God’s love that revives the winter-weary heart. You are right, we must face our lives in the direction of the Son or we would freeze to death. Being in the woods is a marvelous thing; we realize how small we are in the universe. The trees can teach us about life; the trees shed their leaves, but even in winter there is growth. I love your line, “God brings forth buds.” Only with God does the soul bloom.

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    1. Yes, I love the buds. God’s sense of nourishment. Thanks Linda…and yes if we want to see where we stand in the universe take a walk in a big woods. Nature doesn’t care a lick even though it all points to the master craftsman, only God cares.

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  12. Yes, God is so creative. I love it when the clouds we can see are highlighted from the sun we can’t see….Are we not God’s highlighted by the Son to the world? It’s a thought…

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