Camp Cocoon
Our weekend bereavement camp for kids will be held Aug. 1-3, 2025, in beautiful Tallulah Falls, Ga. Applications are now being accepted for campers and adult volunteers.
The Willow Tree
By Chaplain Taylor Dubose
Blessed is the one who finds wisdom, and the one who gets understanding, for the gain from her is better than gain from silver and her profit better than gold.
She is more precious than jewels, and nothing you desire can compare with her. Long life is in her right hand; in her left hand are riches and honor. Her ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace. She is a tree of life to those who lay hold of her; those who hold her fast are called blessed.
- Proverbs 3:13-18
There was once a gardener who tried for a year to shape a willow by pruning, slashing, and chopping its branches. The willow stubbornly only wanted to grow to one side and was bare on the other. In vain, he pruned, he slashed, but the willow persisted to only grow in one direction. One day, the gardener took a shovel and dug down to the roots of the tree. He found a stream running under the tree to the side to which the willow leaned. The willow simply followed the fountain that fed its’ life.
He put away his pruning knife, and he dug a channel for the stream around the other side of the tree. Behold, the next year it became symmetrical without a touch of violence. This is what we need to make change in our lives. Not more trying, not more suffering, not more scolding, not more condemning of ourselves, but more life, more help, more love, and more precious grace.
What stream feeds my life? What is the stream feeding your life? Do we allow God’s love, God’s grace, and God’s grace to fully envelope our lives, or do we only grow to one side? Be blessed and feed your tree today.
1626 Jeurgens Court, Norcross, GA 30093