The Parable of the Wounded Tree

by Charlotte Baker - used by permission of author

THERE WAS A DAY IN MY youth when I stood strong as an oak tree in the presence of my God. I said within myself. "God has given me much and made me great, and I stand among the trees of the wood, taller than most, and stronger than most," I saw as the winds blew through my branches, that while the leaves of other trees fell, mine hung on, and I was strong, and I was filled with life. I lifted my hands before my God, and I said, "God, in me Thou hast done a good thing,"

My heart rejoiced as I, looking around, saw the Great Master of the trees coming through the woods. He went to one and looked at it, and He said, "Thou art a good tree, and I will dig about thee, and I will dung thee, and I will prune thee, that thou become a better tree." He said this to many trees, and then He did a strange thing. He went through the forest of trees, and He pulled from His side a sharp knife, and He cut the bark of a tree. I saw as, one after another, He cut the bark of others.

I said, "This is not my God. Why would my God do this? He cut the very heart of a tree until the life will bleed out of that tree." I dropped to my knees, and I said, "Something is wrong here," and I drew myself in, and I said, "I hope He comes not near me, for I am fearful of what this husbandman will do." Surely, He walked straight to me, and He took in His hand the knife, and He cut me to the very heart. I felt the piercing, and I felt life begin to flow from me, and I began to wonder at such a thing.

When I looked at that which He had carved, I saw that it was His name that He had carved upon my tree. My heart leaped within me, and I said, "O God, I stand again strong and tall in Thy presence, for Thou has put upon me Thy name."

I rejoiced for a season, and then the wind began to blow, and I heard the voice of the Lord say, "Every time the wind blows it is a sign that change is coming. Be thou prepared for change, for as I have put My name upon thee, so have I also destined thee for change."

Again I said, "I can take it; I am strong. Though I have a scar, I am still strong."

On a certain day, when the wind had blown ferociously, and the fierceness of the elements had come upon me, I heard footsteps behind me, and I looked, and there came that same Husbandman, and my heart fell. I said, "Well, He cometh only to bless me, only to promote me, only to make me great among the trees of the wood, for I am stronger than most and taller than most, and I have been cut by the sword, and I bear His name." However when He came closer I saw that He had, this time, not a knife, but He had an axe. Again, I recoiled at the awful thought that He might use that axe on me.

As He walked among the trees of the wood, He looked until He saw one that was me, and He took the axe and, with great fervor and with great joy, He cut the tree down. I saw joy on His face, and I said. "This I cannot understand. I cannot understand why He would take a tree and cut it to the roots." But when I fell, I fell in His presence.

He took the axe, and He cut me where no man had ever touched me, and He hollowed out the very center of my being. I wept like I had never wept before and begged Him to stay His hand, for the pain and the bruising and the hurting was more than I thought I could bear, and I began to cry, "Stay Thy hand, O God. Is it not enough that Thou hast felled me in the presence of my friends? Is it not enough that when my friends are standing upright I must lay low, even if I am in Thy presence?"

But He kept right on working until He was satisfied, until He had seen the travail of His soul, and then He did a beautiful thing. He picked me up, and He put me on His shoulder, and together we went out of the forest, away from my friends. My heart said, "O, now He doeth it to me again. I will have no friends. I will be taken away from those I love and from the fellowship to which I am joined."

The Word of the Lord came unto me, "I want thee to come to the Circle of the Earth, for up there is where I hold the wind in My fist, where I speak the clouds into their directions, where I cause the snow to fall and the sun to shine. Up there, on the Circle of the Earth, I would speak unto thee, son of man. Thou wast not born to be a tree that was taller and greater, nor wast thou only born to be one who bears the scars of My name, but thou art one who was born to be My possession. I have come to do with thee whatever My heart desires. It is not my desire that thou bloom among the trees. It is My desire that thou come with Me to a high place."

Again He brought me down, and I saw myself upon the shoulders of the Husbandman, and He crawled over the rocks, and He crawled into barren places and up to the high mountain, and I said, "Now this is terrible, there is nobody here, there is nothing here. What can I do? O, woe is me, I will be alone."

The voice of the Lord said, "Alone? How canst thou be alone on a high place, because I dwell in the high places?"

When He found a little stream, He laid me gently down, and He put me into that stream, and suddenly that stream became a great river.

The Lord spoke again to me and said, "Now come, and I shall give thee the parable of the tree." He took me to the Circle of the Earth, and He said, "Now look down upon that tree, it is now a watercourse through which I will flow unto the barren land."

I looked, and I saw, and the desert became green, and the Earth that was parched and dry became green, not with the rain that fell from Heaven, not because man had planted it, but because one tree had been broken, and now the desert began to blossom as a rose.

People of the Lord, thou hast said, "I will dedicate myself unto this ministry, "but if thou art not willing to be that tree that is cut down, that tree that is hollowed out, I say unto thee that thou shalt never see the day when the nations and the barren places shall be filled with My glory. But if thou wouldst allow Me to do My work within thee, I promise thee that I shall carve My name upon thee. I will cause thy very heart to bleed until I am satisfied with that which I have done in thee.

The day will come when I will take many of thee from among thy brethren. I will cut thee off, and I will send thee to the nations of the Earth, and thou shalt dance over the nations, and thou shalt sing in the nations, and one shall put ten thousand to flight, and the water of God shall spring up, and the glory of the Lord shall cover the Earth as the waters cover the sea.

For information on ordering Charlotte Baker's book containing this Parable, The Eye of the Needle, please contact This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it