Spring has arrived and it’s time to walk in the woods again. We have a wonderful trail a short distance behind our home, and we created a path from the house to the trail. But after a winter away from that path, it’s always a bit difficult to maneuver. The woods are always changing while looking all the same. I developed a phrase which helps me locate our path: between two trees. It sounds so silly. In the woods, everything is between two trees.
Yet I’ve gotten to know, to recognize two particular trees not too far apart. As I walk between them, I look for the next set of trees that are my markers. I have four sets of two trees that get me home. The last set always makes me think of the Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. The trees are tall and wide and seem like a gateway to another world just as in C.S. Lewis’s wonderful story.
The woods change with the seasons. In early spring, I can see our house in the distance while I locate my trees. Soon my feet have shuffled away some of the dead leaves so the path is fairly plain. However, when the leaves bud and open – I always call it the greening – the house is no longer visible and I have to pay attention to my trees again. In the fall the leaves blanket the ground hiding the well worn path and my trees lead me once more. If I walk in the woods in the winter, all is white and gray with nothing to distinguish my walkway. The two trees beckon me home.
Life constantly changes while often looking the same, just like the woods. You know the path is there, but it’s just not quite clear. Things get in the way, seasons change, and it seems so hard to see where you know you should go, where you thought you knew the way. What can you do? How can you pick out your own two trees or several sets?
In life, you only need one set of two trees and you only need to look up to see them. When Jesus died on the cross, He hung between two thieves, also on crosses. A cross was called a tree. Jesus hung between two trees and He is your way home. When you look to Him, He will show you the way, no matter how much life changes or stays the same. He tells us He is the way, the truth, the life. He also says He is the door.
He will give you wisdom, give you answers, and give you peace and strength for the journey. He may do it with a verse from the Bible, a knowing in your heart, a thought in your mind, or perhaps a friendship you weren’t expecting. He will hold your hand and walk with you. Ask Him to lead you where you need to go. Look to the One between the two trees and find your way through the beauty, the confusion, the changes, and the blessings of the many seasons of life.