Article January 9, 2017 Issue

Blooming in God’s time

Marilyn Wickstrom

It was spring, and nature was wearing a soft, delicate veil of new splendor. On a road we travel occasionally, only one tree stood bare—the kapok tree. With an enormous trunk supporting huge, graceful branches, this solitary giant couldn’t help capturing my attention. But its naked limbs showed no sign of the seasonal awakening going on around it. What was wrong, I wondered. Why wasn’t it blooming? Where were its leaves?

Weeks went by before we drove down the same road again. By then, the kapok tree was bursting with life. Deep green foliage covered the once-empty branches of this amazing tree. As I admired its beauty, I realized there had never been anything wrong with the tree. It simply bloomed later than other trees.

When I was younger, I remember feeling like the bare branches of the kapok tree in early spring, wondering if I had a purpose. I looked around at others who seemed so much more advanced and together than I was, and I felt inadequate. In school, I didn’t like math or any other academic subject, and my grades were poor. It didn’t seem as if I was destined to make any kind of worthwhile contribution.

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