the stubborn leaf

I have a Pin Oak in my front yard.  It's a cute little tree, apparently planted by a kid who used to live here for an Earth Day celebration many years ago.  I like its location and the shade it provides to the front yard...but there is one thing I dislike about it...its stubborn leaves.  Pin Oaks keep their leaves all winter and only lose them once the new buds push them off.  This means that all winter long I look at a bunch of brown dead looking leaves on my tree and that every Spring I have to pull out the rake (a tool I would normally be done with around November) and rake up all these stubborn leaves.  I am normally the guy out raking while all my neighbors are out putting down mulch.
 
But I respect these leaves.  They don't give up.  They hang on through all those cold winter winds.  They hang on through all that snow and ice.  They hang on when all the other leaves on all the other trees have been bagged up and thrown away.  These little Pin Oak leaves just don't quit.  
 
Jesus taught about a woman who had been taken advantage of.  She did not get justice, not at first, but she demanded it and she DID NOT QUIT!  Every day she fought for justice.  Every day she demanded help.  Every day she called out until she was granted what she deserved.  (Luke 18:1-8).
 
Let us be like this Persistent Widow.  Let us be like this Pin Oak leaf.  We will not give up.  We will not give up on hope.  We will not give up on love.  We will not give up on kindness.  We will not give up on God and His plan for us.  Though some may falter, we will persist.  We will hang on through every storm.  We will hang on through every hardship (including this one).  We will hang on to the promises of God and to His great love!  We will hang on.


In Christ,
Pastor Scott