One day last year I was trail running on our farm
during my favorite time of year
~the fall~
the air was crisp
and the woods were bald, having already shed
its “summer coat”.
At that time Brody was getting around easier then than he is now,
so I had taken him with me.
Brody and I have such a connection while in the woods~
we both come to life!
I was on a trail that I had run many times
but this particular day
my eye caught a glimpse of this tree that I had never noticed before :
As I glanced at it, nothing really seemed overly unusual.
Fairly normal actually.
Standing tall and narrow; status quo as far as trees go.
I did briefly notice something around the sides but it wasn’t concerning,
rarely is a tree without blemishes after all.
So I continued up the trail to my normal turnaround point.
However, as I began my journey back down I was shocked to see this:
It was the same tree, just from another perspective~ the backside.
What appeared like a healthy, relatively normal tree
was hardly the picture of health I had once thought.
Actually, it was gross!
As I began to move around
I realized that each new angle made things look even worse.
Circling the tree
gave me a clearer picture~
and it told me something very significant about my first impression!
It was wrong. Terribly wrong.
And what I dismissed or rationalized was even worse.
I took it all in for a minute and then continued on my run;
when I had gotten several yards away
I glanced back over my shoulder one more time…
and almost giggled as I thought
“That’s amazing ~you don’t even notice it from here” .
That moment would not be lost on me!
The experience of circling the tree that day was a Divine appointment
and one I think about often.
The position by which we are viewing something is extremely significant~
different angles yield different insights.
If we only allow ourselves a narrow perspective we can be sure of this:
some truths will be seen~
others will be obscured!
Lesson learned.
Always. Circle. The. Tree.
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