Our fruit trees are in full bloom. Apple trees and cherry trees are breathtakingly beautiful. You could easily call both the apple and cherry trees “cheery” trees. A storm passed through this afternoon and something strange happened to one of the cherry trees. The wind, which wasn’t severe, combined with the heavy rain pretty much knocked off most of its pinkish white petals. What is interesting is this did not happen to all of the cherry trees.
So why? Could it be that one tree caught a blast of wind the others didn’t? If not, was that tree weaker than the others? It reminded me of some folks I have known along life’s way. Some manage to survive major storms, while others seem to fall apart under similar trials. I used the word “seem” because there is so much we do not know about each other. Perhaps it only appeared that the trials were similar. Maybe something additional happened that we did not see. One thing for sure, they had different childhoods, which could have strengthened one and weakened the other.
As we do not know why one cherry tree fared better than the other, we do not know why people respond so very differently to what appears to be the same events. Jesus was so wise when He instructed us not to judge others. We don’t have enough information and insight to do so fairly. When we judge others we often use ourselves as the standard and when others don’t respond as we would, often we are harsh and belittling. Using ourselves as a standard is so wrong because we make a zillion excuses for ourselves that we do not afford to others.
It is a wonder that God loves us so much.
Written by Roger Bothwell on May 13, 2015
PO Box 124, St. Helena, CA 94574
rogerbothwell.org