Have You Ever Questioned Your Own Value?

Where I grew up in Nova Scotia in Eastern Canada, there were spruce trees everywhere. They were like weeds. If you left a field untended for a few years it would be covered with little spruce trees. If you walked into the woods you usually found spruce trees everywhere and in every size.

Because of their abundance they were not given much respect like a graceful pine or a tall majestic oak. But nevertheless the spruce is one of God’s wonderful creations.

I remember that we sometimes had rainstorms which were called “Silver Thaws”. They were beautiful. They happened when it rained but the temperature was low enough that the rain froze when it landed. You can see in the picture to the left that a single branch can get quite heavily coated with ice. Of course this weight was very damaging to trees and power lines.

One morning after a silver thaw, I went into my yard to clean up the broken branches of
a spruce tree in the yard. Some were broken off and some were just broken and hanging
there. I quickly cut off the injured branches and cleaned up the yard and put the branches
into a big pile.

Then I noticed an interesting situation. A chickadee came by, flew over and landed in the spruce tree. It was just as happy as ever and enjoyed playing in the branches of the spruce tree. Then I noticed a squirrel ran over to the spruce tree and climbed up onto a piece of broken branch and sat there apparently talking to his friends.

It struck me that this lowly spruce tree which was damaged and broken by the weather was still as useful as ever for the wildlife in my yard. This reminded me of myself. I was broken and injured from the troubles in life but I was still alive and still useful. Nothing and no one ever gets to the point of having no value. Everyone is a unique creation from God’s hand. Each has his/her own special value.

I learned a valuable lesson from the lowly spruce tree that day. Maybe I should think of it as the mighty spruce tree instead.

Bruce is a motivational speaker and conducts seminars and workshops based upon the ideas in his book, “Attitude Determines Destiny”.

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