Scripture Reading: Psalm 1
I decided to remove a fairly large limb from a tree in the yard because its growth was beginning to block a door. Despite considerable time and energy devoted to the task, the limb refused to go without a fight. After the axe and I prevailed, finally, I stepped back to ensure the job was satisfactory.
With the limb removed, I could see the tree looked different from its neighboring trees. While they were tall, straight and fairly symmetrical, this tree was pretty beat up and crooked. The tree had suffered decades of trauma. It leaned to one side, perhaps from where another tree had fallen against it and caused it to grow at an angle. There were gouges that indicated I wasn’t the first to sever a limb. Animals had scuffed up the trunk, leaving large, permanent indentations in the bark. Even the branches hung low as if too heavy for the tree to lift them toward the sky.
Yet, it still served its purpose as a tree. It displayed full, bright leaves. It was dropping seeds to give life to future trees. It provided shade and branches for birds to nest and produce their own offspring. How could the tree still do all these things in spite of the trauma it had endured? When other trees fell, it didn’t move to another location to avoid the blow. When aggressors came with axe in hand, it didn’t hide deeper in the forest. When animals sought to tear into its bark, it didn’t run away. Through every situation, the tree remained connected to its water source.
The water source wasn’t designed to protect the tree from other falling trees, axes or animals. Instead, the water source provided the nourishment for the tree so it could endure every obstacle it faced. The tree could avoid all those issues if it moved, but it would not prosper, much less survive unless it remained planted by the water source.
The psalmist reminds us the person who cherishes and meditates on the word of God is like the tree planted by the water, firmly rooted, thriving and fruitful. At times we may feel like that tree in the yard: battered, gouged, cut, scuffed up and weighed down. If so, remember the lesson of the tree, stay grounded, rooted and firmly connected to the source—God. When we stay firmly planted by our God, we will not only survive, we will have success in all we do!
Lesson to Remember: Staying planted in God doesn’t guarantee us against obstacles, but ensures we will endure every obstacle.
“Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, And whose hope is the Lord. For he shall be like a tree planted by the waters, Which spreads out its roots by the river, And will not fear when heat comes; But its leaf will be green, And will not be anxious in the year of drought, Nor will cease from yielding fruit.”—Jeremiah 17:7-8
