Lesson from a hike.

I was so sure I had written this story years back...But unable to find it and hence penning it again.

These were years ago, when there was no roads to the mission fields and they had to walk across the jungle to reach the remote villages.

Dad was escorted by a local missionary and as they climbed, they stopped to get some breath. Dad spotted a beautiful jack tree with ripe fruits at arms distance and was surprised nobody had picked the fruits so easy to grab. Hugru as they were, he and his other friends immediately got a fruit down. The missionary did not comment anything and dad proceeded to clean and eat the first bite.

But the moment his lips touched it , he spit it out at the same speed. The ripe fruit was so bitter. Confused, he looked at the missionary who looked so amused! The missionary grabbed dad's hand and took him near the jack tree and pointed up to its branches...And there at one crevice of the same was a nice strong neem tree. 

A neem tree on a jack tree! Some crow must have pooped the neem tree on the crevice and that had indeed grown. The roots of the bitter neem tree had found its way into all of jack tree and all TS fruits remain bitter.

Dad narrated this with a laugh and taught us a valuable lesson. No matter how nice and clean and fruitful you are in Christ, if you let one small seed of bitterness in you, you can be rest assured that you'll turn all your fruits into a  bitter one.

Bursting forth

The GST stretch from tambaram to chengelpet is lined up with trees. Though many trees have been chopped down for widening the roads, and many had fell during the cyclones hit back to back in the past, it still brightens up the road with shade and cool air.

Past 2 months have been hot. Summer had started quite early and the humidity is high even as early 7 AM. The face of anyone traveling by road can witness the heat , humidity. But yet what's amazing is to see the trees seem to enjoy the weather. Almost most of the trees have bright green leaves. New leaves inspite of dry ground. The trees have a strange magical shine on them...Like as if they took oil bath? There are trees that are in full bloom. Pretty yellow flowers covering up the trees, pink flowers adorning other tree's, or just the bright green shining in the morning sun. To know they bear the heat all day and feel refreshed to smile!

You may say, come on it's spring season, time for trees to get their new leaves out! But still this heat, this humidity and what a brave face they put on , without brooding about the summer starting quite early or the water that's depleting!

Hope I do to... In the intense stress, pressure and heat of life, that I take time to enjoy the present that God has given me, and be the best I can be shining for his glory!