You are not some special little snowflake. You are not a
rose in a field of dandelions. You are not the only one like you in the world.
I have heard these things from parents and none of them are true. They aren’t
true about you, they aren’t true about me, and they aren’t true about anyone.
Except Chris Pratt…. He, He is just great! Now if I were to say anything about
individuality and “specialness” it would be this. You are an Aspen Tree. Some
are tall, some are short, some are ugly, and some have things carved into them.
You are an Aspen Tree, you are different from other aspen trees but only if you look REALLY close. Other wise you are just another tree in the forest. The reason is because YOU are broken, YOU are imperfect,
YOU are damaged goods. You are a MEAT SACK with a stone heart that is
crumbling and so is EVERYONE ELSE.
There is good news though we have a specific set of tools to
help polish our stone heart. These Tools
are Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness, Gentleness,
and Self Control. Unfortunately, more bad news, your tools are just terrible.
They are weak, rusty, and breaking. Your
love will fail the one whom deserves it because of personal resentment. Your
Joy will fail you when faced with true devastation. Your peace will fail when
the waves of life’s trepidations hit you. Your patience will crumble under the weight
of expectations. Your Kindness will last only as long as your love for the
person whom is testing you. Your Goodness will disappear when selfish desire
arrives. Your Faithfulness will only
last as long as you need it to, and then it will be as fleeting as a summer
breeze. Your Gentleness will only last as long as your self control allows.
Long story short, your tools are weak and frail.
Here is the Best news. We have a carpenter who has better
tools than we do. 2000 years ago our carpenter waded into the river Jordan. Had hands placed upon him and was plunged into
the waters of the river. When he reappeared above the waters the spirit entered
him. (Matthew 3:13-17) That same spirit enters us at our baptism gives us the
Fruit of the Spirit. That singular fruit has multiple attributes that give us
the ultimate tools we need. We gain the ability to tap directly into the
bottomless well that is God’s Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness,
Faithfulness, Gentleness, and Self Control, and in these gifts we will never be
left wanting. Christ describes it best in John 14:27
“Peace I leave with you; MY peace if give you. I do not give
to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be
afraid.”
It is God’s gift to us in the Holy Spirit that we can tap
into. A love that will never fail or falter
and forgives no matter how many times forgiveness is asked. A joy that
surpasses all understanding. A peace that will calm the waves in the middle of
a storm. A patience that has waited Three days before reveling to the world the
Greatest News of all time. The kindness to those who did not ask for it nor did
they deserve it, but instead a kindness that is freely given. A goodness that will be poured out from the
heart of the one who was sent for the world’s sake. A faithfulness in the one
who formed your heart from clay and with a snap of his fingers sent that heart
into a flutter. Finally, a Gentleness that will be lead by the self control of
the man who gave his life for yours.
Now I might be on the wrong side of the cross here, but I started
this with the idea that you are not special. We are not pretty flowers in a
field of dandelions. Instead I insist that we are all Aspen trees. Aspen trees
are diverse and bend to their environment, so none of them look alike. Yet they
all have roots that are interconnected. They all have scars caused by someone
else. They all have leaves that give comfort to those below. Your story may be
hard and painful, but you aren’t the only one who has gone through it. Your story
may be weird and privileged, but you’re not the only person who feels
conflicted. Your story is not a magic little snowflake, and that is NOT A BAD
THING. To think that you are the only one who can understand what you are going
through is a LIE. A Lie to yourself and a lie to the world. Until you realize
that we are all in this together you won’t be able to get past your brokenness.
To dive into the Fruit of the Spirit we are gifted with. The best part about
aspen trees is that their roots grow together. Until one tree is actually two.
Two trees wrap themselves together to make four. Until the whole forest are
many trees with one set of roots. We are rooted in Christ, and that means we
are all not that special, but we all receive the gifts. Sorry if you thought
you were a butterfly in a pod of caterpillars.
Galatians 5:22-23
“But the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, patients,
kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self control. Against such
things there is no law.”
