My previous post was an observation I made last Friday morning. I also made another one while walking down the sidewalk back to my car. It was of a large tree in the middle of the city where its roots were spreading out and had actually lifted up a section of the sidewalk. Now I know this is a common occurrence in cities and neighborhoods everywhere. In fact, when I was a kid and rode my bike to school, I knew where all these were — in one direction so I could jump off them like a ramp, and in the other direction so I could avoid them and not go over the handlebars.

But this particular tree root struck me differently. Maybe it was its persistence. Maybe it was the horizontal direction. Maybe because it was in front of the abortion clinic. But to me it was a physical metaphor for how the living Holy Spirit penetrates and breaks the hardness of our hearts. The tree is living and its roots provide life. The concrete appears hard, cold and immovable. Not unlike us. Not unlike the abortion center. Not unlike our fallen world. But God has provided the Holy Spirit life and persistence to break into our cold, hard hearts. And it, quite often, isn’t a sudden force — but rather like the work of the tree root, it is slow, gradual and persistent. But ultimately it wins in breaking through.

…..Dan at aslowerpace dot net

One Comment

  1. A Slower Pace » Blog Archive » Friday morning events….. says:

    […] The last observation was while praying at 40 Days For Life. There was an older Nissan Maxima that was squealing loudly but not moving parked right in front of the abortion clinic. A tow truck was called and after some lengthy maneuvering with traffic and such, hooked up to the broken vehicle and proceeded to take it away. I commented to my friend Donna (a true saint and disciple of Jesus) that it was a metaphor for that place that kills babies and leaves mothers and fathers broken and carts them away. She agreed and it reminded me of another similar observation on that same sidewalk (see post here). […]