The Giving Tree

God,

Each night, we read books to our kids before prayers at bedtime. Tonight, Bennett grabbed the book, The Giving Tree, by author Shel Silverstein. As I began to read the story, Kat looked at me and said I was going to need tissue. With each page, I could feel the tears about to come. As I started crying, I was unsure exactly why I was crying. It was a heartwarming and sad story, yes. However, I did not understand why I was crying until Kat prayed that God was the ultimate "Giving Tree."



You are the Giving Tree. You give in so many ways. You give us everything from the air that we breathe to the ground that we walk on. You give us rain and You give us sunshine. Sometimes, You give in ways that we do not understand or even in ways that infuriate us. I can think of times in my life when you did not answer prayers and I was so mad but in Your Way, You were giving me such a blessing. As I wrote this, I was reminded of a great song that I heard recently called Blessings by Laura Story.

One of the lines from the song says, "What if trials in this life are Your mercies in disguise?" Until you have seen a trial become a mercy, it's hard to understand how this makes sense but it does. You do not always answer our prayers in the way we wish, you do not make life easy when we choose to believe, you do not promise prosperity and a life filled with zero discomfort. In fact, Your Word promises that we will suffer. May we have the wisdom to see our trials as blessings in disguise.

Thanks for giving and giving so freely to each of us,

Derek