This Tree Has No Business Thriving Here.

I was visiting a friend and saw this Maple tree growing in this rock. The sight of it created hope in me. It was inspiring. 

A maple tree seed floated from somewhere and landed here. As you can see, it’s in the shade. In fact, the area around it is tree-covered. The tree directly above it is a large mature oak tree. I didn’t search for the Maple tree where the seed could have originated because I was so mesmerized by this sight. 

I wondered about how far that Maple seed had to travel to drop in this exact location, the crevice of this very rock, at the right moment when it would settle deep enough to be motionless through wind, rain, snow, and hail. It would most likely have fallen last spring or fall when the maple seeds fall like little helicopters.

As I contemplated this 18” tree growing literally out of rock, I had so many messages flooding my mind. 

• Have you ever felt like you were placed in an impossible situation? 
• Has God ever called you into something where the soil was hard and the chance of growing the thing He’s called you to steward seems completely unlikely to succeed, much less ever get off the ground? 
• Have you ever felt like you are working and working and working for something as you set the stage? The calling is there, but it seems you cannot see the growth you imagined. 
• Have you considered all of the times in the Bible that God made a way where there was no way? Have you wondered if He was ever going to do that for you as well? 
• Have you seen what looks like a bleak and stone-like obstacle only to find out that it was actually the stone which gave you the step you needed?

These are all concepts which flooded my mind as I stared at that tree.

 I plan to explore these over a three-part series.

We will examine scripture and follow a trajectory which helps us understand how even in places we never expected, God is leading the way and providing the resources. How He’s using even the hardest circumstances to take us where He needs us to go. 

This blog series will include the following titles: 

• When the Ground Isn’t Ideal
• Roots Before Results
• God Makes a Way Through Stone

See You Next Month,

Jennifer Edwards

I love journal prompts, so here are a few for you as you look at that little tree and consider God’s plan in your own life. 

• Ask God to reveal to you a circumstance that matches a concept in your life, like the photo of the tree growing in the stone. 
• Prompt: While you were in the beginning of the journey, where did you find hope? 
• Was there a scripture, a kind word from someone, some tiny but consistent growth which kept you going?

My prayer for you…

Abba Father,

As the image bearer reading this considers how you’ve been by their side all along, allow them to have the full knowledge that you never leave our side. Help them see the places where you have been super evident and the places where you were there, yet a little quieter. I pray for their business or non-profit to find the funding it needs to take it to the next step You have for them. I pray for their relationship with You to grow in ways they didn’t know it could. I pray they discover spiritual practices that help them in every part of their life and organizations. I ask all of this that You can be glorified through it. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.