Which kind of tree do you see?

This is a beautiful tree at National Cathedral. I was there the other day and the whisper in my soul after I took this picture was, “This is the wrong tree.”

What immediately struck me was that this image for me is a “stock image” of sorts. One my mind comes back to that represents feelings of barrenness, wilderness, waiting, bitterness…

The exhortation here in this season from God, I believe for me, but also for the whole body of Christ, is to refrain from meditating on winter…even if our souls are experiencing some kind of winter—hibernation—desert, even.

Instead, meditate on the fruitfulness that is ahead, the feast that’s being prepared, the harvest season—DESPITE what we see with our natural eye.

See this tree instead: