www.laurareimer.net
| |

Apples don’t fall from trees, you know <3

www.laurareimer.net

Over the years I have asked some friends and family who are also gifted in putting words on paper to write a guest post for this little Journey.

As I looked back over those looking for one to share with you during this anniversary week celebration of the seven year mark for the blog, I found one our Rachel wrote that I posted during the first Christmas Countdown I did. Which also happened to be in 2013…so happy Christmas Countdown to us as well!

Here are the words she shared on December 20th of that year.

They have added two more little birds to their nest and her “free time” to be able to write is rather limited. I urge her constantly to keep jotting down her thoughts because they will make a treasure as you will see when you read this one <3

www.laurareimer.net

Shaping by Rachel Maxwell

My mom has graciously allowed me to guest-post on her blog. I am not a writer by trade and truth be told, I adore the thesaurus feature on Microsoft Word. I am humbled she would ask me to share some of my thoughts and His word with you!

Let me introduce myself. I’m the eldest daughter, Rachel. I would be the one with the two young boys that provide much of her material or humorous anecdotes. (And, all of her stories are true.) Graham (our 2 1/2 year old) keeps us on toes, wears us out, and loves us unconditionally.

It’s a beautiful combination I pray he never loses. Emmett (our 6 month old) is following right in big bro’s footsteps – absolutely delighting us, already moving everywhere, and just enjoying watching his hero brother at play!

A couple weeks ago as the boys napped and my husband was at work, I decided to tackle the basement tree. A 6.5 foot, artificial, pre-lit, three-piece tree seemed pretty simple to me, so I went for it.

Don’t worry, the tree is up and I am unharmed! But it’s in the process, the ‘simple steps’ is where Christ likes to speak to me the loudest.

You may have your qualms about an artificial tree, and I would have whole-heartedly agreed as I pulled these three pieces out of the box and set them on top of each other. The branches are all twisted and bound close together making it painfully obvious this tree is fake. It’s just ugly coming out of the box.

There are gaping holes where branches aren’t there and you can see the plastic ‘trunk’ that the makers have twisted a fake piece of garland around trying their best to conceal the plastic, the fake-ness of this tree. Being the mature mother of two, I rolled my eyes and got to work.

I went through each branch and started shaping and spreading out each one. After an hour of labor, I had cuts on my hands to prove I had done my best to shape the tree. I turned on the lights, backed away, and admired my work. That tree had gone from an eye-sore to a delight.

And then I cried.

You see, I am that tree.

I am ugly out of the box and I need lots of work.

Every sin like a branch where you can see straight to the trunk of my heart. Every argument, every quick tempered response, every muttered word, every part of my sinful nature is a branch on my tree. But thankfully, my tree doesn’t stop there and it is not finished.

Christ works on me shaping each branch with His scarred hands, removing the ugliness and creating me into something beautiful – His image.

His work in me doesn’t stop with one branch, He continues to shape and reshape me until I’m closer to perfect than I was before.

And then when His light shines in me…I am now beautiful.

You are my lamp, O Lord; the Lord turns my darkness into light.

2 Samuel 22:29

He redeemed my soul from going down to the pit, and I will live to enjoy the light.

Job 33:28
www.laurareimer.net

We are all works in progress.

What a beautiful reminder back in 2013 and today <3

Share and Save:

4 Comments

  1. Rachel’s beautiful analogy brought back memories of setting up Christmas trees in the past and gave me a new perception. Thanks for sharing.

    1. I think of her every year now that we have gone to artificial trees after so many years of me insisting on live ones. As my hands shape the branches and I feel the sting, I remember her analogy <3

  2. I remember a day when our son was combing his sister’s hair for Halloween and he told her, “Don’t you want to be pretty. You’re ugly now”.
    I know it isn’t as good as Rachel’s writing, but since she is the same age as our son…I pray for him as he and his wife have started their own family with a girl. Who knows what is in store for her? God knows.

    1. From the mouths of babes, right??? And picturing him combing his sister’s hair is just a sweet image…love you!

Comments are closed.