Little magnolia in my yard so crooked and bent,
You didn’t start off crooked.
You weren’t designed to grow
so awkwardly,
so strange,
so different from the other trees.
What caused you to be so unusual?
Clearly something from your past is the reason.
What pressure did you face?
What stress?
What pushed against you so hard
or threatened you so much
that you took such a detour
in your upward growth?
But you didn’t continue in that direction, did you?
Somehow you started reaching up towards the light!
You made your way!
Whatever challenge you were facing you made it through.
You stand tall among the other trees.
And you know what?
You’re strong.
It takes a lot more strength
to stand tall with an uneven past,
than to stand upright with a
smooth, easy, even past.
You, little magnolia, may look different from the other trees,
but you’re doing something the others can’t do:
You’re showing just how strong you are.
Sweet magnolia, I don’t know what tried to detour you from the light
but it didn't end you.
It made you beautiful.
Honestly, I’ve never noticed the others, just you.
This sideways story you tell makes you stand out.
Every day I look out my window and notice
your uniqueness,
your beauty.
Your uneven past has made you beautiful
because you just kept reaching
toward the light.
I’ll remember that from now on.
Especially when I think about the things that bent me, and tried to end me.
The things that keep telling me that my uneven past makes me awkward and weak.
Maybe, instead, they've made me stronger.
They've made me beautiful somehow because my God kept shining
His light down on me and I just kept reaching up to Him.
Thanks, little magnolia.
I needed that reminder.
