This tree fell over and almost died, it's roots ripped up from the ground, but not all of them. Now it grows diffrently, instead of strait up, its branches are reaching out pointing skyward towards the sun. It almost died, but its still alive.  I asked God what he wanted me to learn from this tree. If the lesson here, for me, is that just because something looks like it's done for, that doesn't mean it's over? That's what I thought God wanted me to think about. But after loading it up on my computer and taking a second look, and begging to talk to Him and listen and write, I realized that it's something else. This tree almost died and almost fell all the way to the ground. But it didn't because its branches got caught on its neighboring trees. The trees nearby, and what remains of its root system are holding it up half way between the bround and its previous upright position.

This is where the analogy to my own life from the tree stops working. It's only a tree and can't ever get itself back up. Or, ask for its neighboring trees to help it get back to where it was. But we can. That tree can stay where it is and live quite a long time, but its not how iits suposed to be, it won't ever be a mangificant tall tree reaching the tops of the canopy. And eventually, it will fall the rest of the way to the ground and die.

Sometimes we fall, sometimes we make mistakes or get ourselves into places that we shouldn't be. We feel like we've fallen from grace, or away from where God, or our parents, or friends, or husbands or wives wants us to be. We haven't fallen all the way to the ground yet, but if we don't ask for help, if we don't press into our friends, family and God, then we just might. If we don't fall all the way down, we still won't be the beautiful and graceful man or woman God made us to be. Yes, God will still love us, maybe our friends and family will put up with us and have grace for us, but why should we stay in that place?

If you're hurting, if you're in a place that you don't want to be, you don't have to wait to hit rock bottom. That's what prayer is for.