Twisted Living

For the past couple of years, I have become preoccupied with trees. Not all trees. Not summer-green trees or autumn-colored trees or spring-flowered trees, but winter-naked trees. Not small trees, but large ones. Not narrow trees, but wide ones. Not pruned and clipped trees, but those that are wild and unruly. Not straight-branched trees, but those crooked and twisted ones. These trees beg me to gaze at their dark bare branches. Their twisted twigs dig into my gut and evoke a visceral response. That twistedness, that crookedness, that barrenness speaks of me, of others, of us.

There is a twistedness that pervades humanity, yet in this crookedness there is life. This tree is alive, rooted in the ground—resting, waiting to be fruitful. It is a winter Sabbath: resting in its twisted glory, waiting for springtime fullness. After the rest, after the waiting, fruitfulness will come from its groundedness. Deep roots that take and receive from the earth will nourish the barrenness. The barrenness will blossom, a new beauty will emerge. Unseen changes will take place. There will be inner movement from roots to trunk to branches to twigs. Suddenly, the hidden life will appear. The darkness will be dressed in living color. The nakedness will be covered in living layers. The twistedness will be transformed into living fruitfulness.

We are dark and crooked creatures who are engaged in twisted living, yet we are rooted, grounded. Our roots go deep, buried in the Creator of earth. The Earth-Creator sustains our roots and nourishes us. We are alive because of this sustenance. Though there is darkness now, though there is twistedness now, though there is barrenness now, we rest in the winter Sabbath and quietly wait for the day when the Maker of earth will beckon us to inner movement. This movement begins in our rootedness and stirs our center, our hearts. Then our Creator will illuminate our darkness with a living Light. The Earth-Maker will cover our nakedness in living color and transform our twistedness into living fruitfulness. Beauty emerges.

The transformation of a twisted tree into artful beauty is the wonder of creation. It is the glory of the Creator and Maker of earth. That the Earth-Maker transforms my twisted self, your twisted self, our crooked selves into His own artful image is the glory of our Creator. Our darkness reveals the glory of our Maker’s brightness. Our twistedness reveals the glory of our Maker’s straightness. Our barrenness reveals the glory of our Creator’s fruitfulness. Our twisted living reveals a Maker who invests dark, barren, and crooked creatures with glorious life—the glorious life of the Creator of earth.

Tree picture is from http://www.sahneh.ws.nature