A Curse Can Become a Blessing

I know that right now you are looking at this photo and thinking that I have lost it by posting a ridiculous photo of our neighbor's tree. However, there is an interesting story attached to this tree and a lesson that I have learned by taking note of a poor, pathetic tree that swayed with the wind.

Let's go back three years ago. Hurricane Rita hit Beaumont with intense winds from a Category 3 hurricane. When we surveyed our property, we saw that two 70 foot pine trees had been totally uprooted, not snapped off but totally uprooted. One went parallel to our house and our neighbor's front lawn. The other hit our fence and barely brushed the roof of another neighbor. These were the only two trees on our property. Gone was our shade, gone were the sounds of the owls late at night and numerous squirrels were never seen again. Yes we were blessed that the trees never hit our house; but the mess they caused was awful and the one tree stump (about 6 to 8 feet in diameter and two feet high) only recently, like two months ago, was removed from our yard. I hated that tree stump. It was a constant reminder to me of the heartache, the inconvenience, and the destruction from Hurricane Rita. Every day when I opened my back door, there was the tree stump, that cursed tree stump that never let me forget Rita.

Our view of life can change in an instant, and a cursed tree stump for me became a much appreciated blessing. From the picture above you can see that the wind came from behind the tree which caused the tree to bend over to the ground. If our pine trees had not fallen from Hurricane Rita and were still on our property, the one tree would have been uprooted and would have fallen right through our house. We were so grateful for the "blessing" of the fallen pine trees and no longer did we look at that stump as a cursed reminder of Hurricane Rita. That stump now became a great blessing in our lives and a reminder that our house actually had been spared by the wrath of Hurricane Rita.

Maybe there is a lesson to be learned here. As human beings, our instinct for some reason is to always find the negative in everything. Ask yourself, do you see the glass half full or half empty? Everything that happens in your life, do you dwell on the negative or do you try to find the hand of the Lord in all things and know that he is watching over us every day and knows what is best for us at any given time.

My perspective of trials and afflictions has changed a bit this past week. I am beginning to believe what was told to Joseph Smith that "all these things shall give thee experience". There are lessons to be learned from every event in our lives. Sometimes it may be too difficult at that exact moment to see the good in that moment. Taking the time to reflect on our lives and the experiences we have day to day is of utmost importance in order for us to progress.

I am grateful for the lesson I learned from a tree that through trials and adversity there is always a blessing attached from our Heavenly Father if we will but look for it.