The Pear Trees

Devotional for Friday, April 29, 2005 by Melva Cooper

The sun is shining brightly. Soft, gentle winds are blowing through the trees. Tulips are popping out in brilliant reds and yellows.

I drive down a street near our house where there are dozens of pear trees all adorned in pure white blooms. I gasp each time. The beauty is almost more than the eye can behold.

Three months ago, I thought I would never again round that corner and see millions of white pear blossoms.

An ice storm of enormous proportions covered us completely for several days this winter. The electricity was off, and the wires came down. Trees that had stood the weather of time began to lose their limbs. Freezing rain turned to several inches of ice, coating the branches. They shook and shimmered as if the load were too much to bear.

Then before we knew it, spring was here. The sun was shining, and the birds were chirping. New life abounded all around us -- and there, for all the world to see in their resplendent glory, were those broken-down, pruned, reshaped pear trees. How magnificent they stood in their glorious new life! No longer were they broken, bent, and twisted -- but pruned and glowing with millions of white blooms, more beautiful than I ever remember seeing them before the huge storm.

I was reminded how God takes weary human beings, seemingly broken beyond repair from sin and difficulties in our earthly lives, and makes us new again. Much like those gorgeous pear trees, we are enabled to live holier and more fruitful lives for Him.

Prayer: Thank You, Lord, for taking time to restore our lives when we become weather-beaten from sin. Amen.

Melva Cooper <melva@melvacooper.com>
Jonesboro, Arkansas, USA

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