*Warning: Contents inside this post may be somewhat random. Proceed with caution and forgiveness…
I woke this morning to lovely pictures from Janay in Cambodia:
Janay got to go away to the beach for the weekend with friends. It cost $10.00. It was remote and beautiful and included a monkey that made itself at home for the night in her room. (Funny and terrifying!)
Although I could go on and on about how this so warmed my mama heart, but in the interest of keeping random to a minimum I won’t.
Just take in the beauty of the water for a minute. The refreshment. The brilliant color and obvious peaceful effect.
Now here is a picture of my neighborhood in all its fall glory:
Although it’s lovely (and actually, my very favorite time of year) note how many leaves have fallen to the ground and how many will continue to fall in the weeks ahead.
Contrast those leaves with what is happening on my lemon tree/bush:
As you can see, the leaves on the tree in the background and foreground have turned colors in preparation for falling off the trees they grace. But my lemon tree’s (is there such thing as a lemon bush???) leaves are still green and its branches are still producing fruit.
Where am I going with this? I will remind you that you did have fair warning of the random nature of this post, but I do, in fact, have a point.
This morning I began a new journey in the book of Psalms. Psalm chapter one contained this: “How well God must like you…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.” (The Message). Another version describes this person as “a tree planted by streams of water”.
Look again at Janay’s picture of the water, but this time look at the trees. Green and vibrant – lush and fresh and thriving. Paradise. Planted by water. Nourished and content. The water giving life to them.
And look at my lemon tree – producing fruit, retaining its green leaves in contrast to the other surrounding trees.
We can be like that tree. Connected to the source of Life. Drinking from our source of living Water. Branches joined to the living Vine. Psalm 1 isn’t the only reference God makes to trees and water.
Look at these:
Psalm 23:2-3 – …he leads me beside quiet water,he restores my soul.
John 15:5 – “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.”
John 4:14 – “But whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”
Isaiah 58:11 – …and you shall be like a watered garden, like a spring of water, whose waters do not fail.
And what will be our fruit as a result of being connected to the Healthy, Perfect Vine, drawing nourishment from the Living Water of God’s words to us?
Galatians 5:22-23 – But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.
When we are drinking in the goodness of God Himself, all that He is, all that He says, these things will automatically pour from our lives. Trees don’t produce fruit to be admired. It’s what they naturally do. They produce to give nourishment to others, to benefit those who get a taste.
Life drawn in and life poured out. A continuous, beautiful circle. The circle of TRUE life.
And now back to your regular, less random, programming….:-)
