Apple Trees:

I have two apple trees in our side yard at home.  They were there when we bought the house and I later discovered that the reason the previous owner planted two apple trees is: one tree cannot survive on its own. Something about cross pollination; they need each other.

Apple Trees in Trouble:
What has happened over the last few years is that the back tree has given in to the wind and the weight of the apples that it has produced. It has laid itself over like it was trying to lay down and go to sleep or something (literally tilted to about 30 degrees from the ground). It looked like it had fallen over. Ironically, the other tree had started to lean towards the driveway too, but not nearly to the same extent.

Getting Things Aligned Properly:
Apple trees have a shallow root system (some types as I understand it) and are susceptible to leaning over like this. So, a friend of mine came over and we hooked up a block and tackle to the neighbors tree, threw a line around the apple tree, and winched the tree back into an upright position. Next, we took an eight foot metal (T) stake and drove it about four feet into the ground (about six to eight inches on the side of the apple tree).  We took some bungee cords and strapped it to the trees and the stakes are holding the tree in place until it can secure its root system.

When People Get Out of Alignment:
People often get out of alignment. The weight and responsibility of their life weighs them down and the winds and pressure of work, finances, and family tend to push them down till we are almost overwhelmed.  The real problem I will suggest, like my apple trees, is that the root system has not gone deep enough to hold the tree upright to deal with the weight of life.

Christians Need Re-Alignment Sometimes:
For Christians it means getting some support and help from other Christians. They can find a new posture in life and begin altering their old habits to form a new spiritual root system so they can stand up and become healthy again.  Sometimes we need a lot of help; someone needs to stand us back up spiritually and drive an anchor in the ground by meeting with us to hold us in place until our own root system is deep into Christ where we can stand up alone.  If there is too much going on in our life, and the weight of all of that is too much for us, we need to prune some things form our life to make sure that we can sustain healthy amounts of fruit – not just how much fruit.

We all want to prove we can handle things on our own. I suspect that many of us are out of alignment. Others can see we are out of alignment because of our attitudes and actions but because it has happened over a long time period, most cannot see what others see going on in their own life.

The Scriptures say that we are to be rooted and grounded in Christ (Colossians 2:7) and we need one another (Galatians 6:1-5).  Some of us need some encouragement and some need some strong intervention. Others can move alongside and drive a stake into the ground and find ways to respond to the needs of that one person. We need each other to stay healthy… but even then, there are times that we all need some extra encouragement and strength to see us through and get us realigned with Christ.

Have a great week!

Pastor Brad