The Thorn Tree, May 3, 2012 Daily Reflection

The thorn tree

You see it has thorns and yet it continues to grow. We have sins and yet we continue to love. We are not perfect. We will never be perfect yet we should continually strive for goodness.

“Mommy, I am horrible!” Jake said his eyes filled with tears. “No, Jake you are not horrible. Sometimes we make mistakes and we are punished for the mistakes we make. We learn from those mistakes. But we are not horrible because of those mistakes.” I gently told him. My oldest son intervened “Jake, you are what you think you are. So, don’t call yourself horrible. Everyone screws up sometimes. It’s really ok. Don’t talk about yourself like that.” I was so impressed I almost stopped the van in awe of him.

It is the same way in all of our lives. We screw up, we say the wrong things at the wrong times, we are insensitive and just plain mean sometimes. But we are not horrible people especially if we learn from those mistakes and better ourselves in the future. Ethan is right we are what we say we are. If we call ourselves names for those mistakes then how can we grow bigger than them?

Mistakes and sins are like the thorns on that tree, they are there to remind us but we can grow to reach something much higher beyond them. Learn from your thorns and grow closer to what is beyond.

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