Recently lightning struck a tree in my neighborhood and split off a whole side of it.  Everyday I walked past that tree with half of its branches flat on the ground beside it.  The mass of branches was still attached to a sliver of trunk but was no longer connected to the living tree at all.

For the first day or so the leaves on the downed branches were as green as ever.  It was a strange sight - this horizontal half-tree lying at the feet of a normal, vertical tree.  The picture always caught my attention.  It seemed important somehow, like it was trying to tell me something.  But I couldn’t understand the message.

Then the horizontal half-tree started to change.  The leaves browned, curled, and finally died.  That’s when it hit me - that’s what happens when you get cut off from the source.

Looking at that dead piece of tree on the ground next to the living tree, I had a vision of what would happen to me if I got disconnected from the source, from God.  Fortunately I’m not sure we can ever get completely cut off from the source because I don’t think God ever really gives up on us and lets us go.  For that I am very grateful.  

Sometimes we try to push God away, to deny our connection to Him.  But it’s to our detriment because you can’t live if you cut yourself off from the source of life.

Every time I walk past that tree, I am reminded of that fact.