Stop...and pray

Walking through my favorite nature preserve one day, I noticed...there were branches down over the path everywhere. Some small and easy to navigate...some much harder to cross. Here's one of my favorite spots:

Anna looks so small sitting on top! She wanted to walk the tree like a bridge over the creek! I talked her out of it.

It's hard to tell here, but it completely blocks the path--you either have to do the limbo under it (in ways that my back no longer bends!), crawl over, or walk around the roots.

This particular day, the sun made the grass glow on the other side, a sign of life and hope and growth beyond the dead and brittle branches. A reminder to stop and pray along the way. To set our minds on things above...and  not the things of earth that fill our time and block our path.

Even on the other side, I have to look back, as even now I look back at how God has worked in our lives, and how he walks with us through good times and hard. Sometimes I turn back about 20 feet later, and this massive obstacle seems so small in retrospect. The troubles that fill our lives now will one day look the same, will fade into the background and pale compared to God's glory. For now, these things are reminders to stop and pray, and look to him.

"Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.  Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.  For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God.  When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory."

 - Colossians 3:1-4