Faithfulness springs forth from the earth, and righteousness looks down from heaven. Psalm 85:11

When we bought our house 22 years ago, there was a huge locust tree in the front yard. While it was a beautiful tree, it was covered with long thorns that looked like 3-inch nails. And since I am a barefoot kind of girl and we were planning on having babies, I was not having any of that. We even paid extra to have the tree cut down and removed because of the thorns.

Now in our front yard, stand two Bradford pear trees. The one on the left is the tree we planted a few months after our son, Taylor, was born in 1994. We planted the one on the right when Bradley, our second son, was about a year and a half after we adopted him from Ukraine in 2001. We were careful to buy trees from the nursery that were the same ages as our boys. They are Taylor’s and Bradley’s trees.

Both trees are exploding with blooms right now. Today it looked like it was snowing in front of our house even though the March wind had blown all the clouds away and the sun was beaming down. Taylor’s tree starts blooming early. Bradley’s takes just a little longer.

Both are tall. Taylor’s is a man tree now. Bradley’s is still growing but catching up. Both have survived many storms, the cold of winter and intense pruning. Still they bloom. Still they grow.

I love this time of year. When I drive down the driveway, I am reminded how God has blessed our family, how He helps us deal with the thorns of life and has given us two sons that He created, that He provides for, that He watches over and that He nurtures as only He can.

Dear Lord: Thank you for the beauty of nature and how You use it to speak to us. Thank you for the blessing of family and for watching over us and providing everything that we need. This time of year, we are reminded that You make all things new. We praise You for the new life of Spring, and, most importantly, for the new life that we can only receive through Your Son Jesus Christ. Amen