Like A Tree

Post 243

A beautiful morning in Huntsville, AL called for a morning hike to Bethel, the one with the waterfall, which is merely a few thin trickling streams due to our lack of rainfall in the last couple of months.  Five or ten minutes from reaching the falls, in the quietness, every few seconds I would hear an acorn fall from a tree either near or further away, and then my brain started kicking in with revelatory thoughts.  What I am going to write here is me sussing it out, and I know this a theme I’ll be using in my Christian adventure allegorical book for youth/teens I’ve been working on for the last couple of years. I love listening to the podcasts while I walk, and I love talking to real people, but many times it all comes together during the quietness of the hikes.

The world (people) is like a tree in many ways, or at least like a forest.  When I heard the acorns dropping so randomly, I began having such thoughts as:

•          That particular acorn reached whatever its tipping point was, and gravity finally brought it down.

•          What are the ‘ingredients’ to that acorn that made it reach its tipping point now, compared to the acorn right next to it? – Size? Thickness of shell? Did any insects or bacteria weaken any part of it?

•          There are hundreds or thousands of acorns already on the ground.

•          How is our makeup and the things we experience in life any different?  Do things weaken us and bring us down one at a time?

•          Why are some of us acorns and some of us leaves? Because the Creator got to decide.

•          Look at the beauty of all these different kinds of leaves in all their different colors and shapes (as they are in the process of dying), yet looking around, some are green as could be. There are tens of thousands or millions already brown and crunchy all around me.

•          What part of the tree is most important? The root. Without healthy roots, the tree will eventually die.  The root can be unhealthy for quite awhile before it really shows up in the tree though.

•          In our world, Christianity, especially those who hold it in their hearts, but also culturally, is THE ROOT.

•          Our own family is our tree, and our trees make up a community, and many trees make up the forest, and the forests make up the world.

•          What do we do to most take care of trees? We have to fertilize around them and make sure the environment (too much or not enough water; invading insects) doesn’t harm the root system.

•          How do Christians get fertilizer?  Pray and read the Bible. Be discerning of which teachers are environmentally strong roots. The roots need living water.

•          I think all other people are the leaves, bark, acorns, animals running around, insects, etc.

•          It has been up to the practicing Christian family to do what they must to keep their roots strong. Are they doing it?  What happens when they do?  What happens when they don’t?  Look at America now. When did it begin to change culturally?

•          It wouldn’t be a forest with just roots all over the place.  The roots grow the tree, and all parts of the tree are also needed.  It’s the leaves that end up soaking in the carbon dioxide that allows the roots to live and thrive as well.  If the bark isn’t right, strong winds and hail or other environmental factors will weaken it, and the tree won’t last as long.

•          When it’s a healthy tree, everybody benefits, including the little squirrels and birds, not part of the tree at all, that have no awareness that the food they get all started with a healthy root.

•          What destroys the tree?

•          We’ve all seen roots poke up through some hard ground, like cement or blacktop.  They can really take the environment!  Some roots are too new and not as strong, and get crushed by the environment. They do not end up thriving as intended.  The same can be said for leaves and the fruits of the tree.

•          You know it’s a good tree when it produces good fruit. The better the fruit, the better the root, I guess.

•          You know the tree is dying when the fruit is rotten or bland.

As I live through these next couple of months, I am doing my best to keep my mind occupied and am so thankful that I’m finally getting the desire back to work on and finish the first draft of the book. I think I know where this “theme” will go.

I have the “homesick” feeling quite a bit when I think about the upcoming holidays, and with the environment changing, it’s hard not to think about them.  I’ll have to pass on the woman’s Bible study that will be starting back up because it is appropriately an Advent theme.  I just can’t. Hubby, son, and I will begin to make new traditions, some of which include the memory of Morgan, and some of which we will have to start fresh.

There is one tradition that has been in my family since I was born, and it is the one that pains me the most to not continue, and someday we may, but it’s hard to fathom.  My dad always cooked us corned beef hash and eggs for Christmas morning.  As my brothers and sisters ventured into adulthood, we’d ask, “Did you make it?”  I did every single year and Morgan, especially, loved the food and that tradition.  I just can’t.  Homesickness just changed to tears as I wrote this out.  Dang.

I believe all of the below fits with my “sussing it out” theme above.  What do you think?

Matthew 7

New International Version

Judging Others

7 “Do not judge, or you too will be judged. ² For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.

³ “Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? ⁴ How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? ⁵ You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.

⁶ “Do not give dogs what is sacred; do not throw your pearls to pigs. If you do, they may trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you to pieces.

Ask, Seek, Knock

⁷ “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. ⁸ For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.

⁹ “Which of you, if your son asks for bread, will give him a stone? ¹⁰ Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? ¹¹ If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him! ¹² So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.

The Narrow and Wide Gates

¹³ “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. ¹⁴ But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.

True and False Prophets

¹⁵ “Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. ¹⁶ By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? ¹⁷ Likewise, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. ¹⁸ A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. ¹⁹ Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. ²⁰ Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them.

John Chapter 4

^11-12 The woman said, “Sir, you don’t even have a bucket to draw with, and this well is deep. So how are you going to get this ‘living water’? Are you a better man than our ancestor Jacob, who dug this well and drank from it, he and his sons and livestock, and passed it down to us?”

^13-14 Jesus said, “Everyone who drinks this water will get thirsty again and again. Anyone who drinks the water I give will never thirst—not ever. The water I give will be an artesian spring within, gushing fountains of endless life.”

I didn’t take my phone on the hike this morning, but I want to include a picture with this post.  My canna lilies are still blooming a little bit at this late date, so I haven’t cut them all down yet.  I thought this picture from my back deck is one that captures the season changing here.  I hope you enjoy it.