Gospel of the Tree

It is spring, and my wife and I are riding our golf cart across our few acres and admiring the variety of trees we have planted. We love trees and esteem the beauty of the dogwoods, the ornamental plums, and the peach and apple trees. All together we have about 65 trees in our yard. I am somewhat crippled so I especially look forward to these special times with my wife.

What a magnificent thing a tree is! A tiny seed falls into the lap of God’s earth; it rests its sleepy cheek on earth’s warm bosom and goes to sleep. After a time of slumber, it awakens and new life is birthed. The new world of light and rain and singing birds calls it to rise toward the sun. Programmed by its Maker, it feels and finds everything it needs; it gathers food from the dirt, nourishment from the rocks, drink from the earth’s streams and rain-soaked earth. It miraculously weaves each ray of sunshine until its coat is a living green. It bows and bends to the winds and storms; it stretches toward the rising sun; it raises its branches to the praise of its Creator; it spreads them out to bless the earth; it invites birds and animals to rest and raise their young among its boughs.

I think of the poem by Alfred Joyce Kilmer (1886-1918).

TREES

^{I think that I shall never see}

^{A poem lovely as a tree.}

^{A tree whose hungry mouth is prest}

^{Against the earth's sweet flowing breast;}

^{A tree that looks at God all day,}

^{And lifts her leafy arms to pray;}

^{A tree that may in Summer wear}

^{A nest of robins in her hair;}

^{Upon whose bosom snow has lain;}

^{Who intimately lives with rain.}

^{Poems are made by fools like me,}

DID YOU KNOW?

_{(This excerpt is taken from ... Idaho Forest Products)  I found it interesting and thought you might.  Just click the link to go to the site for more information!)}

• Almost 1/3 of the United States is covered by forests! And forests cover 41% of the land in the state of Idaho. About 90% of Idaho's land that was covered by forests in the year 1630 is still covered by forests.
  
  
• In just one year, the average American consumes enough wood and paper to make up a tree 100 feet tall and 16 inches in diameter! (For you fact fans, it breaks down to 43 cubic feet of wood and 681 pounds of paper per American per year!)
  
  
• The bristlecone pine is the oldest living tree -- one specimen is 4,600 years old!
  
  
• Trees, like people, have a natural life cycle and a finite life span. Trees grow up, grow old, and eventually die. The lifespan of a tree is influenced by a variety of natural events, including the availability of water, sun, the presence or absence of wind, fires, insects, and diseases.
  
  
• The Pacific Yew tree, which grows in northern Idaho, produces a cancer-fighting agent called "taxol." Doctors use taxol to control ovarian and other types of cancer.
  
  
• Native Americans used the western redcedar tree to make totem poles and canoes. They also wove its bark into baskets, fishing nets, and fabric!

Think Like a Tree

by Karen I. Shragg

Soak up the sun

Affirm life's magic

Be graceful in the wind

Stand tall after a storm

Feel refreshed after it rains

Grow strong without notice

Be prepared for each season

Provide shelter to strangers

Hang tough through a cold spell

Emerge renewed at the first signs of spring

Stay deeply rooted while reaching for the sky

Be still long enough to

hear your own leaves rustling.

A Scriptural principle comes to mind here:

Psalm 1:2-3 (Modern King James Version) But his delight is only in the Law of Jehovah; and in His Law he meditates day and night. And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivulets of water that brings forth its fruit in its seasons, and its leaf shall not wither, and all which he does shall be blessed.

It is a glorious thing just to be like a tree; to come into being as a tree comes, to have God awaken your soul that was dead; to have Him shine upon you with His life giving Sun (Son); to have Him refresh you with rain drops and flowing streams from His life-giving “water of life!” Like a tree planted by the Maker, you rise and grow toward the Son, destined to serve Him and others!

It is glorious to serve as a tree serves; to give yourself freely to those whose hurt stops at your door. As God’s tree, you find that people seek you for the help you can give. How glorious it is to give rest and peace to people who are weary and troubled. So many folk have lost their happiness and peace. How splendid it is that you are designed to watch them and give shade and comfort until they sing and shout under the branches of your care.

It is even special to suffer as a tree suffers! Your sympathy and empathy give shelter so your suffering is not in vain. You are an object lesson in overcoming. You suffer and are bowed low, but you believe through all things; you endure all things, you eternally hope all things. You overcome because you know your Maker has promised the rising Son with healing in His rays and His rivulets of life-giving water will ever sustain you!

However, the blessing of the tree comes with a condition. The Psalmist in 1:1 says:

Psalms 1:1 Blessed is the man who has not walked in the counsel of the ungodly, and has not stood in the way of sinners, and has not sat in the seat of the scornful.

This is a simple picture of a man who is living and giving his life to God. Also, verse two says that he delights in God and His Word.

The promise that man shall be like a tree is pre­ceded by a provision. Here a portrait is painted. It is not the portrait of a tree, but of a man. It is the description of a man living in agreement with his Maker. This union is in every part and position of his mortality. It has to do with the way he walks and stands and sits, with his delights, with the moments when he is shut in silent deliberation within the quiet shelter of his own soul.

What a wonderful companionship we are to have with God. How God loves the trees. How God loves you

The Gospel of the tree is: ‘Whosoever will, may come.’ This invitation is for birds and cows and sheep and tired men and ladies, who come to rest under its shelter. The invitation is, “come and eat” when its fruit grows to juicy, luscious ripeness. Our young peach trees are covered this year, and my son strokes the branches in anticipation of this special gospel message. When the time comes, even if you will not take, it will of its own accord drop its bounty in your hand, for the tree lives to serve.

Think of the thin line between serving and suffering. The tree also lives to suffer. Its head is to the storm; its face is exposed to the ice and snow; its branches fall to the pruning of the woodsman’s axe. It is often bruised and battered and even cut to the ground if man needs its fire. Yet the tree is a miracle worker; nothing comes by, that is not changed by it! It cools; it feeds others; it cleans the air; it responds to the seasons of life; it stores a record of the climate in itself; it protects passer-bys as a refuge from the winds; it provides homes for little animals; it slows the erosion of mother earth by time and weather; it provides a place for young people to find love and yet it tells no one; it carries the secret of every sunbeam to its grave; it paints a circle around its heart each year. This is the Gospel of the tree!

Last year we planted three pecan trees; this year they are soaring toward the sky. They will be a memorial for years to come. My grandchildren (if/when we have any!) will play under them, for trees bind the world together! Successive generations have the same tree for a companion. Yonder is a tree whose wide-spreading limbs gave bighearted shade to father and mother. The children and the children's children will come and sit there and talk to one another of how living fares. The tree will listen, and laugh or weep or sing, according to the story.

To this tree, God says it will be blessed with fruit, with healthy leaves and with sustained blessings (KJV says "prosper).

Wow!

God loves you, and if you will live in Him, you shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water. Your work shall never fail, and your joy shall never wither, and all you do shall prosper!