Story Tree

Walking this evening, I took notice of the giant old tree which stands like a sentinel over the walking path. A home for generations of squirrels and birds; I wonder what stories that tree could tell. 

I’m sure it could tell of children learning to ride their bicycles along the walking path, going from wobbly and hesitant riders to pint sized dare devils. Dogs walking closely to their owner’s legs and obeying so nicely, as well as those who don’t walk so close and are “helping” to move their person down the path at a greater speed. People walking together, talking and laughing. Friends meet each other coming in opposite ways and pause to catch up. Sweethearts catching quiet moments, grey haired and still holding hands. 

But, this could have all happened today; if we could know the stories this tree knows, it would go back much further than this park. It would be overseeing rich farmland, and maybe prior prarie prior to the creation of this park. I imagine how an active farm was worked around this tree. Perhaps providing shade for the workers along the way.  

A small stream runs just down the hill below. Before the branches were so high, they would have been a great spot to hang wet things after playing in the creek, providing a place to dry off after cooling down on a hot day.

A very young tree could have been a marker on the horizon as transportation changed slowly from wagons to newly introduced automobiles, causing horses to start and chickens to jump. 

So many days of sunshine and rain, nights of star filled skies and flashes of cloud highlighting lightening; this tree has stood tall and seen it all. If we could know the stories, it could be a rich treasure of the beautiful memories of daily life.

I hope that tree is there for many more years, as a silent witness to the celebration of each day.

Cardinals in the Cedars

   At the edge of the yard, a few cedars stand. They have retained three green hue even through a long, and very snowy, winter. The cardinals really seem to love those branches, because in the mornings I often see them tucked into the branches, peeking out at the morning. The brilliant crimson of the feathers stand out in the cedar, creating a classic Christmas card look each morning. When the colors are combined with the being struck by the morning sun, it becomes an effect which really belongs more to oil paint than birds and trees. The cardinal is a brilliant color and when it is in the sun, its color is only brighter and more pronounced.

   God made us with unique characteristics, bits of color in our character. We are certainly responsible to grow these strengths. Then, they are to be used to the most honorable and right to forward God’s people and purpose. But, as much as we work on these gifts, it is when the Son’s light is part of the equation that we really see the attributes stand out distinctively.

Snow Melt

   After a few days of sunshine and warmer temperatures, the fluffy white stuff is starting to turn to little streams and spongy earth. I have noticed over the last years that around trees and bushes the snow melts first. The warmth of the trunk and the roots creates a warmer area of ground and the snow melts faster. If you have grown up around snow, this may just be an accepted part of winter melting. But, why does that happen?

   The truck of the tree is darker and absorbs more heat in the light than the white snow does. The tree is also much more than meets the eye on the surface. A whole other part of the tree sits underground, sheltered by the deeper earth and containing a greater degree of heat. They work together and soon that snow melts off much faster than what is in the neighboring field.
   So, can we learn anything from that that applies back to people? Sure! We all experience snow, the frozen condensation that piles up and up and up in life. Will it ever melt? The deeper the roots, the more protected we are from the frost that is permeating the ground. The trunk stands strong and holds the heat, it just stands and holds that heat, storing it up for usage. We need to plant our roots deep, by digging into the Word. In our busy world, we also need to stand still and soak in the warmth of Jesus. We don’t have to run around like a crazy person to enjoy the presence of Jesus.   
   So, as the snow melts, take a look at the trees. Enjoy your roots, stretch out, be still, and enjoy the presence and warmth of Jesus.

Sanctuary

    A cat behind an electric box, peering out on the squirrel playing in the yard, seems as if it is just perfectly content in the moment. A tiny little spotted doe stands in the back yard, eating corn. Her ears are showing that she is watchful, but not overly fearful. At the corner of the flower bed, cardinals started a nest in the bird house that is tucked into the red bud tree. A friend’s house, where a welcome is real and ever present. The quiet of a morning with coffee in hand standing outside as the dog’s go out and greet the day.
    If the Church is the followers of Christ, then is this all the sanctuary? Is the space where the tiniest of lightning bugs dance through the night part of the dazzling light display put on by the stars a part of the glory of the sanctuary? The world around us contains such beauty, little spaces with the ruffles of marigold blooms and giant spaces of mountains and canyons. I can’t think of a more fitting sanctuary, vast and grand and alive.

Seasons

I’m sitting on the front porch, staring up at the big tree in the front yard. Green leaves are popping out everywhere, from all of the branches. They aren’t full size yet, and still have that distinctive fresh and new green color. The leaves are opened as wide as they can, trying to catch the sun. I wonder if that tree could talk, what would it say about spring. Such tremendous growth is present, but there is a lot of work there as well. Winter came and the tree was quiet, no leaves, no growth, just maintaining life, just surviving. Weaker branches fell to the ground during some of the more harsh winter storms, with icy coverings and the weight of thick snows. But now, it looks quite beautiful.


I wonder if that tree could talk, would it opt for the quiet of the winter season? Would it want to remain quiet, not putting forth efforts for new growth. Of course, that tree wouldn’t survive forever in a wintry state. Eventually, it would need the energy it can only get from the sun, through the leaves.


People talk about seasons and history, as if they were circular. And in many cases, they probably are. We see repetition, even commenting on it with quotes about repeating mistakes, going and coming around. But let me just venture this idea out, it’s not really circular – it’s linear. Linear, and mobile. On that line, we can choose to move forward, move back, or stand still. Well, sometimes we choose. Sometimes, it is chosen for us. There may be seasons, times, in our life where we are like the winter tree. We are quiet, we do not produce fruit, we do not grow, we just survive, just maintain life. But spring must come eventually or we will become misshapen and malnourished. It will be effort, purposefully striving to grow, but grow we must. Then, it is a delicate time, full of promise and yet susceptible to damage by the frost.


“I am the vine, you are the branches.” If God is the vine, He can choose that the entire plant will grow. But what about those branches, the ones that just don’t produce leaves or fruit? Remember the branches in the tree, they fell off during the ice storms. We prune away the dead in the spring, removing the damaged parts and allow for new growth to occur. In much the same way, God prunes us. He sees the damaged parts, the parts which do not recover from the blasts of frost, ice, and snow. Those are removed, the energy that we pour into the them can be then sent someplace else. The damaged parts, they must be examined. Some can be fixed. A little time, tender care, and the appropriate actions can cause the damaged section to promote new life, sending off new shoots, in a new direction. Other damages are much more severe and must be removed, lest the whole branch sicken.


We are in a spring, it is a new season, with new days ahead. We can choose to repeat our to seek new growth.

Tree Songs and Goose Honking

I can’t say I try to be normal, it’s not that I usually try to go out of my way to be different, I just am. How are you different you might ask? Well, I find myself signing just about everywhere I go. Yes, I know that I am not living in a musical, but there is just so much music around us.


Again, that may be a bit different, but not really strange – I mean other people may sing too. Then, I find myself at the park, singing to the goose. Let me back up and describe the scene. It was a late winter snow, thick and beautiful. A frost had settled onto the branches and each little stub of tree that is now starting to hold leaves. Coming down the hill, I stopped at the pond. Ice coated part of the pond, creating a small patch of water where the geese were gathering. They paddles around a bit, rather lazily, occasionally flapping wing and diving under the water in search of fish. Getting out of my car, I noticed how quiet it was. I just love that about snow. And in me, a song welled up, “Great is thy faithfulness….” Standing alone on the deck, watching the geese watch me, I sang (loudly) to the geese and the trees and anyone else listening. Frankly, most of the geese didn’t seem to care. But, one honked back at me. It wasn’t the evil goose honk that geese can do when they are in an attitude mood. Instead, it was more benign, more like it was joining in. Behind me, I could hear the branches creaking on the trees, ever so slightly moving. It felt like I was in the middle of a symphony of sound, a praise of God from many species of life.


I was reminded of this last night when reading in my devotions, Isaiah referred to the trees clapping their hands. I love that! That jogged the memory of reading how the stones would have cried out if the people had not as Jesus entered Jerusalem. What beautiful symphony is around us, tree songs and goose honkings, that we miss out on by not paying attention? As spring is here, sounds of the earth coming back to wakefulness abound – I want to take time to enjoy them and to remember, that great indeed is God’s faithfulness. Maybe they will even let me sing along.

Spring Suddenness

I am always amazed at the suddenness of spring. You wait for months, amidst beautiful snow covered days, and not so lovely icy driving conditions, for spring. The trees stand there, doing tree things, sleeping I think in the winter. Using their roots to seek for deep warmth and sources of food, and reaching up to the sun for any vestiges of heat. Then it happens, the snow melts away, the ground warms up and you wait. When will the leaves come? When will the first blooms appear? One night it is all dingy green and then the next morning, daffodil stems are showing up. Buds start forming on trees. Then, again in a sudden fashion, the leaves are starting to show up.

I love the suddenness of spring, though I do think of sitting up some time with a light and watching the changes happen. You know, sitting out with a flashlight and a lawn chair, a blanket and some snacks – snacks are a must. Sitting there, blanket wrapped, and flashlight in hand, I wonder if I could see that moment happen, when the leaf appears. That moment when the tree determines it’s time to have leaves for the new spring.

An Olive Tree

Why do some people seem to not only do all the wrong things, but have every thing go right while it all done?  Why do some people boast of this?  Oh unbridled tongue, uncontrolled you are a harbinger of death.  Words can cut like razors, they can twist the truth and leave you completely torn open.  Loving evil, loving hurtful and terrible things, harming the beautiful things, and maiming the truth.  That tongue gets in trouble over and over, the lying and harmful thing.

Yet, God is a God of justice who will bring grace and caring, love with compassion and strength.  To teach, to return the tread to his path.  The removal of wealth removes the trust in wealth, the strength in doing harm and gaining the power through fear from others. 

The righteous will trust in God, and there will not be a fear of those who evil, harming others on purpose.  Instead, the righteous are like olive trees.  They flourish in God’s house, they trust in God’s love which never fails.  Praise instead will forever be offered, hope forever maintained, for the goodness of God.

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Sometimes it helps me to really help the words of a Psalm sink in when I reword it.  Psalms 52, it helps me remember to not be fearful when those who use cutting words seem to prosper.  Instead, I remember that God is in control.  And, then miraculously I remember that not only is God in control, but He also will remove the riches, the power from those and instead seek to pull them back towards Himself. 

The part about the olive tree also is so special to me, what a beautiful visual.  Think of a special garden, a place well tended and cared for.  Flowering abundantly, there is an olive tree there, blooming.  Imagine the scent of a blossom, then that changing to the growth of olives.  Then, this wonderful produce when picked, not only is a seasoning and flavor, but does not lose it’s flavor when pressed.  Instead, it becomes something produces a flavor for many thing.  As I am pressed, I would also want to be more like the olive and not be pressed and squashed flat.  Instead, I would change for that purpose and serve as a flavoring for God.  Tended by God, I want to be that olive tree.  

The Downed Tree and the Examination

I recently read a phrase that reverberated around in my mind and settled into the synapses long enough to make it into mid-term memory. Basically, the idea was that you couldn’t really examine a tree until it had been cut down. You can measure it, you can observe it, but you can’t really take a look inside until it has been cut down.

My first reaction was a thought almost of an arboreal autopsy, and how that may be true – but wouldn’t it require that something be dead before that can occur? How sad it would be to cut down a healthy tree just to look inside the skin.

Now, I’m thinking that there could also be more of an examination or assessment. Sitting back in school, move past the memories of desks and friends and lockers – but to the test. What did it cover? The material that you had just been taught, essay and multiple choice to see how much you understood. That doesn’t mean the learning was over, merely that it was time to pause and inspect what had been discovered so far.

My own discoveries this summer, if I look back over the months are wide ranging from the simple to a few ah ha moments, along with a few I’m still trying to figure out.

• · Time doesn’t stand still, but a moment can last a month and a month can last a moment. Holding a new baby or worrying about an ailing friend, each moment is held to and in my mind expanded to hold a tiny universe. Hurts have lasted in reality only seconds and yet, those times in my heart have lingered on much longer. Joy and laughter has flown by even while I clung to the moments to try and make them last longer.
• · If my heart and my head don’t agree, which should I follow? Follow God is probably the advice I would give someone else – and would hope to take myself. But, still not easy to determine. Sometimes, I think that the God GPS needs a translation and extra battery packs. Oh, not that the directions aren’t good, it’s just by the time they get to my ears – I don’t always understand.
• · Adding to that – I don’t always listen. Sometimes I hear, but don’t move or move in a different direction. That would be the GPS again – God’s Positioning System. “Hello, I’m lost again. Can you help?”
• · That tree that looks so healthy on the outside isn’t necessarily healthy on the inside. Sometimes, the truly rotten ones are holding tightly to their beautiful bark covering and leaves. Yet, inside, they are festering. Others are rougher, but inside are strong and growing.
• · Be a friend, quick to listen, quick to hear, quick to care, quick to be there. Be a friend, slow to speak, slow to criticize, slow to make assumptions. Be a friend and stick it out through bad hairdays that lead to bad mood days that lead to truly foul moments with tissues and chocolate and sappy movies. Be a friend and live it up, enjoy the shopping trip, celebrate the triumph, woo hoo over the accomplishments, and praise with a heart that is truly excited and proud of a friend.
• · It’s okay to be mad. It’s not okay to hold on to bitterness. Forgiveness is hard to do sometimes, but you still need to do it. It’s kind of like taking medicine, tastes bad – do it anyway. And take all of it. Forgive doesn’t mean forget. You don’t have to forget, in fact sometimes it’s unwise to forget. Learn though, and let go and let God.
• · When you start something, finish it well.
• · If you make a mistake, go to someone else with your hand open and a clear view of eye contact, make your apology, make it heartfelt. Move on.
• · Real friends are precious. Hold them close.

That’s it so far for me over the last few months. They may sound a bit cliché at times, but you will have to overcome that. There isn’t a grade connected to this, just a chance to learn and then go on. Oh, that would be the last then – keep learning and going on.