I started reading Psalm 1 today in an attempt to start the year off right with my reading of the Bible. As I read, my memories turned back to what I believe was 1994. This was the first time I was invited to speak at a children’s retreat. The theme I chose was “Be A Tree” This is because the person who meditates on God’s law is “like a tree planted by streams of living water”. Not bad for a greenhorn, wanna be children’s evangelist. I was grateful for the invitation and the friends who assisted me that weekend. As my memory serves me it went well, though I’m sure it was a bit shaky, the message was strong.
Now, flashing forward 20 years, I know I’ve grown, not just in experience, but in depth. My roots have grown deeper, but deep cries to me to reach for more. There have been seasons when I have immersed myself in God’s Word, and seasons when reading or thinking on it was far from my first priority. In both seasons, respectively, I have seen the increase and lack of intimacy with my God.
I declare here and now, that I want to be a tree! A tree that produces fruit in it’s season because it is planted by a stream of water with a never ending supply of life. Notice, as the scripture says, it produces fruit in “it’s season”. In the past, I fear I have rushed the process of producing fruit. Fruit doesn’t come through strife, but through rest. This lesson, though not new, is one I am newly coming to grips with. When I taught that first retreat so many years ago, that a healthy tree is in a place of rest was far from my mind. Now, this revelation is a challenge to me to stop driving the show, but to trust and relax that God has a plan and he wants me to enjoy it. That as I rest in His stream, I receive the life that is ever increasing and will produce fruit in the seasons I am designed for.
As I begin my year with reading from the Bible, I hope you will be like me and find that place of rest where you can be in tune with God. Find that place where you can eat from His table, or more appropriately for the text, drink from the place you are planted, and grow to maturity to where you produce fruit ( which means in the tree world, that you are reproducing ) from a place of rest. Join me this year and for many more. Lets, “Be A Tree”.
Now, flashing forward 20 years, I know I’ve grown, not just in experience, but in depth. My roots have grown deeper, but deep cries to me to reach for more. There have been seasons when I have immersed myself in God’s Word, and seasons when reading or thinking on it was far from my first priority. In both seasons, respectively, I have seen the increase and lack of intimacy with my God.
I declare here and now, that I want to be a tree! A tree that produces fruit in it’s season because it is planted by a stream of water with a never ending supply of life. Notice, as the scripture says, it produces fruit in “it’s season”. In the past, I fear I have rushed the process of producing fruit. Fruit doesn’t come through strife, but through rest. This lesson, though not new, is one I am newly coming to grips with. When I taught that first retreat so many years ago, that a healthy tree is in a place of rest was far from my mind. Now, this revelation is a challenge to me to stop driving the show, but to trust and relax that God has a plan and he wants me to enjoy it. That as I rest in His stream, I receive the life that is ever increasing and will produce fruit in the seasons I am designed for.
As I begin my year with reading from the Bible, I hope you will be like me and find that place of rest where you can be in tune with God. Find that place where you can eat from His table, or more appropriately for the text, drink from the place you are planted, and grow to maturity to where you produce fruit ( which means in the tree world, that you are reproducing ) from a place of rest. Join me this year and for many more. Lets, “Be A Tree”.
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