I've been thinking a lot about trees lately. This is probably because we've had to down a few big ones to do some work around the farm. Every time one of these trees topples, I think about this land and how long the tree has been here... what it has seen over its years of life and what is happening on the land now. And inevitably, in my thinking about trees and taking them down, I am reminded there is one tree on our property I can never touch... or so I was told by PawPaw Charles.
He likes to tell us these stories about growing up in the house where I now live. We have old black and white photos of when this house was first built. We have boxes of memorabilia... family keepsakes through the years that were left in the attic when we moved in. And we've heard all about the tree that stands at the entrance to our homestead because it was his first Christmas tree... a cedar tree circa 1947. I will probably set a commemorative "Charles Turner" plaque at the base of the tree to signify to whomever may come behind me that this tree is a special one. Don't think about taking it down! And when I think about trees... especially cedar trees of this kind, I always find my mind going to Psalm 92:12-15.
"The righteous shall flourish like a palm tree,
He shall grow like a cedar in Lebanon.
Those who are planted in the house of the Lord
Shall flourish in the courts of our God.
They shall still bear fruit in old age;
They shall be fresh and flourishing,
To declare that the Lord is upright;
He is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in Him."
The cedars of Lebanon, referenced in this Psalm, grew to 120 feet in height and up to 30 feet in circumference. They were solid... strong... immovable. And while the author of this Psalm is anonymous, he obviously saw believers as he describes these trees... upright, strong, and unmoved by the winds of circumstance... full of strength and vitality.
Once you plant the tree, it isn't going anywhere... unless, that is, someone chops it down or a hurricane blows it over. Once it's rooted, it isn't walking away on its own. And, as Jeremiah says in chapter 13 his book, a tree which spreads out its roots by the river "will not fear when heat comes" and "will not be anxious in the year of drought". So today, if the ground on which you stand feels a lot like shifting sand, plant your heart firmly in the soil of the One whose living water will give you everything you need to stay put where He has planted you. And know that you can stand firm in the face of adversity...
Whatever that may look like for you today.
Happy Friday!
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