I was walking through the snow-laden forest in the Blue Mountains this weekend. Many trees were bent over with heavy mounds of snow heaped on their branches. I felt sorry for the burdened evergreens, until I remembered the freedom that would inevitably occur.

I had seen it many times before. Heavy snows fall. Tree branches and trunks bend under the massive weight. But eventually the sun warms the air enough to melt the load from the limbs. An incredible inner strength and resiliency in those trunks and branches spring into action, restoring the trees to their upright position.

At times, we might feel burdened by weights of the world such as sorrow, disease, debt, and loneliness. But we can learn from the winter-hardened trees. The strain is temporary. We can bend without breaking. The stress will pass. God’s omnipresent love is at work lifting the load off of our shoulders, a spiritual resiliency is at work within putting our life back together again, and we are left stronger for the experience.