Remember that phrase a long time ago? Well, I found the tree that I want to be. It was in my quiet time this morning. I found it in Psalm 1. Here are a few things I know about this tree:
1. It’s well fed.
2. It’s been replanted in fertile ground.
3. It produces fruit.
4. It’s always green. (yay!)
5. It’s vibrant and alive.
I’m a sucker for any analogy that has to do with trees. So this one is very vivid in my mind. Here is Psalm 1 from The Message:
“…you thrill to God’s Word, you chew on Scripture day and night. You’re a tree replanted in Eden, bearing fresh fruit every month, never dropping a leaf, always in blossom.”
If I am on a diet of God’s Word, I will be that tree that can’t help but thrive and give fruit. And who benefits from the fruit? Those around me. And God. He gets the glory for the fruit because He was the gardener who planted, fed, watered and nourished and cared for the tree. All the tree had to do was take it all in and allow the fruit producing process to do its thing.
I’m looking outside right now at my lemon tree. It is on a drip system that continuously waters it. And every year it produces more beautiful lemons than we can keep up with. We give lemons away, and use them ourselves, and still it gives us more. We get to enjoy the smell of the blossoms, the beauty of the fruit and the taste of the lemon.
If I could be any tree…I would be the tree that constantly drinks from God’s living Word that brings life and health and fruit. The kind of fruit that brings a smyle to others and a blessing to the Gardener. 🙂
