June 30, 2020. Often, while hiking through the woods, we stumble upon tree roots embedded in the path. Every now and then, a shoe catches and one of us trips. Determined to protect the ones we love and reduce the amount of stumbling, we began yelling, “Tripping root!” every time we saw one in the path.
Recently, while walking up a hill, we saw a root. As was our protocol, I yelled out, “Tripping root!” Then, Penelope approached the root, evaluated it, and said, “Actually, going uphill, it’s more like a helping root. See…it’s like a step to help me.” It was true. The same root was capable of both tripping and helping.
Today on the ice age trail, we saw a large root in the path. As I so often do, I hollered out, “Tripping root!” Both kids quickly and assertively responded, “You mean HELPING root!!!” Weeks after Penelope’s initial observation of a helping root, they still perceived the roots on today’s path as a helper.
Perspective is a powerful thing. With limited thinking, I could only ever experience the root as a hazard out to get me. But what if…the root wasn’t made to trip me up? What if the root was always there to help me, I just misunderstood it? What if it’s both? Or…what if the root is just a root? Nah….God can use all things…even roots in a path.
KNEP Hikes 