-Contributed by Linda Wilson

My name is Linda Wilson.  I am a lifelong Oklahoma educator.  I live in a rural area north of Collinsville.  My land borders the Caney River.  This allows me to wander through beautiful Oklahoma woods filled with century old pecans, oaks, cottonwoods, and sycamores.

In 2007, my area suffered a massive ice storm.  I could hear sounds that resembled gun shots.  They were instead the sounds of huge tree limbs falling.  Some of our trees were damaged so severely that we had to cut them down and use the wood for firewood.  They could never recover from this storm. Many trees were damaged, but withstood the storm.  Many branches were damaged, but did not break from the tree.

I have been blessed to have walked through these woods since I was eight years old.  I remember a specific tree that I sat on a low hanging branch with my grandfather before he died in 1961.  These woods are part of my past but also a huge part of my current life.  When the ice storm hit, I asked God to allow me to live long enough for me to see the trees recover and be beautiful once again.  He has answered that prayer.  I am very grateful.

My favorite time of day to walk in the woods is near dusk.  I can see wild turkeys and deer at that time of day.  The most amazing image, however, is looking at the silhouettes of the trees against the setting sun.  It is at this time and in this location that I can best see the hand of God.

Remember the trees whose branches were damaged by the ice storm but did not break away from the tree?  It is here that I can see the beauty of both science and the beauty of God.  The branch changed the direction it had originally been growing due to the damage of the ice storm.  However, the new growth on the branch grows straight upward toward the light of the sun.  The silhouettes are visual evidence of the branches seeking the light.  According to English Oxford Living Dictionary, phototropism is “the orientation of a plant or other organism in response to light, either towards the source of light (positive phototropism) or away from it (negative phototropism).”  I see a scientific process in the trees positively seeking the light.

In my life and in the life of others in which I am close to, I have also seen a “personal phototropism”.  When life is difficult–when we receive a bad medical diagnosis or we face other tragedies—each individual has the opportunity to turn toward the “light” or to turn away from the “light”.  In our personal lives, this light is not the sun—the light that the trees turn and grow towards.  It is the SON, Jesus Christ, our personal Lord and Savior.  Each individual can turn towards Jesus or turn away from Him.

I lost my ninety-two year old father in early March.  For a while, I was in a fog of great sadness.  I could not focus to even pray.  Jesus continued to be the light in my life.  He sent people to bring comfort and support for me and my family.  Over time, my fog cleared and I am now able to support others who have recently lost a parent—and there are many.

I do not know what trial you are going through right now.  Perhaps you are living in a fog of great sadness.  You do have the opportunity to turn toward or away from the light.  I pray that you are the living example of positive phototropism.  SEEK THE LIGHT.