Photo by Greg Hume, CC BY-SA 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

I was quite blessed to be raised in the woods.

Let me clarify the above statement: I’m not saying I was raised in the woods by a pack of wolves or otters or any other species of woodland creatures (even though my beautiful wife may claim otherwise).

My childhood surroundings were a gift from God. The security of extended family surrounded me like a warm blanket. My grandparents lived on the other side of a cow pasture from us. The greatest dangers face were:

1. Accidently making contact with the electric fence when it was turned on.
2. Stomping into a freshly made cowpie when crossing the pasture. (And woe betide you if you thoughtlessly entered Grandma’s house in those soiled shoes.)
3. Experiencing danger #1 when a cow had recently been nearby, causing you to fall into #2.

There was one more danger. It lingered at the edge of woods, where our backyard abruptly ended in the wonderful expanse of trees and wildflowers and mushrooms – loads of oddly umbrella-shaped fungi growing in the weeds and on the trees.

This danger stood out to me because my parents had warned me about it.

Do not touch it.

Do not lean on it.

Don’t even talk to it (which should be no problem unless you’ve eaten the aforementioned shrooms. And, really, I doubt consuming them would lead to any sort of psychedelic experience. They’d just poison you.)

Hmm… maybe I should add that to the top of the list of childhood dangers.

And then there’s the coffee can of rusty nails from Grandpa’s garage, used to shore up our A-frame stick lean-tos. But we had our tetanus shots, so no real danger there.

But I digress…

Photo by Gunnar Ries, CC BY-SA 2.5 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.5, via Wikimedia Commons

No, the danger Mom warned about was the torn tree.

A great big, ugly, dead thorn tree.

With huge spikes protruding from it’s decaying trunk.

Someone should have cut it down.

It wasn’t pretty.

It wasn’t enticing.

It was scary.

It was exactly what sin should look like to us.

But that’s the problem. Sin does not always look so frightening, Instead it looks beautiful.

Attractive.

Enjoyable.

Popular.

Fulfilling.

Cool.

Entertaining.

Gorgeous.

Down right fun!

I’m guessing the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil wasn’t a dead thorn tree. (It wasn’t an apple tree either, but one rabbit hole is enough for today.)

Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, “Has God indeed said, ‘You shall not eat of every tree of the garden’?”

² And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden; ³ but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die.’ ”

⁴ Then the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. ⁵ For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

⁶ So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate. ⁷ Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves coverings. – Genesis 3:1-7 (NKJV)

It’s easy to get lulled into complacency when it comes to following Jesus. We get wrapped up in our lives – our schedules, our plans, our jobs, our kids’ soccer games, all the busyness, all the cares of this life (which only compound everything else going on…

We lose sight of what is truly important.

We lose sight of Jesus.

We get so caught up in the worries and stresses and insanity (inanity?) of this life that, before we know it, we find ourselves standing in the woods wearing cowpie covered shoes, eating poison mushrooms, talking to a thorn tree.

So, what’s the answer? It’s one of the verses I find myself repeatedly drawn to:

“Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you” (Matthew 6:33, NKJV).

How often do we act on our own impulses without seeking God’s wisdom first? Trust me when I say it could be painful. God’s grace is still there. The LORD forgives us. Our Father loves us. He saves us. Je restores us. He may let us stand in those stinky poo-covered shoes for a while to correct us.

Wouldn’t it be much easier to seek God first in all things, and trust Him instead of our own limited capabilities? Not all pain can be avoided (just look at Job). Still, life would be much better if we would remember this:

“For My thoughts are not your thoughts,
Nor are your ways My ways,” says the Lord.
⁹ “For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
So are My ways higher than your ways,
And My thoughts than your thoughts.” – Isaiah 55:8-9 (NKJV)

Thinking back on it, my childhood woodland wasn’t quite as safe as I naively thought. Our true security is found in God through Jesus Christ and Him alone. How would our lives look if we walked – no, ran – away from the thorn tree? What if we chose to look to Him as our source of joy, happiness and peace, instead of living life so engrossed in our circumstances?

We live amongst thorns. Seek God and His ways first. Let Jesus light your path. And follow that Light.