Trees

 Another life-long favorite poem, that many have memorized in schools in the past.  I know we had to memorize this poem in grade school.  After I had grown, and was working in our local church Awana Clubs, working with girls in the 4th, 5th and 6th grade, I did a devotion one night on this poem.  It's a beautiful picture of how our life should be in relation to God.  

Here is the poem called Trees by Joyce Kilmer (1886-1918)

TREES

I think that I shall never see

A poem as lovely as a tree.

A tree whose hungry mouth is pressed

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,

But only God can make a tree.

Joyce Kilmer (1886-1918)

The Way of the Righteous

 1 Blessed is the man
    who walks not in the counsel of the wicked,
nor stands in the way of sinners,
    nor sits in the seat of scoffers;
² but his delight is in the law of the Lord,
    and on his law he meditates day and night.

³ He is like a tree
    planted by streams of water
that yields its fruit in its season,
    and its leaf does not wither.

In all that he does, he prospers.

(A tree): Who has ever looked at a beautiful tree and not stood in awe?  Or stood under it's branches on a hot and sunny day to seek shelter and shade? Have you ever silently listened to the wind stirring the leaves?  Or seen the sunlight streaming through the branches, or the moon shining at night reflecting on the bark and leaves, and not be in awe? I'm sure most all would agree that there is little in nature as lovely as a tree.

We, as Christians, in God's Word, can be compared to a healthy, fruit-bearing tree. 
 Titus 2:14 says that we are "a peculiar (or special) people".  In Matt. 5:14, "a city set on a hill".  (Do you remember that song "This Little Light of Mine... I'm gonna let it shine"?)  When we walk in the presence of the Holy Spirit, people can see the beauty of Christ in us. Our entire demeanor takes on a new appearance.  We are a "new creation in Christ Jesus" the Bible tells us, when we accept Him as our Savior. "Old things have passed away and all things become new." (II Cor. 5:17)

(Hungry): Matt. 5:6  "Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled."  
I Peter 2:2:  "As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the Word, that ye may grow thereby."  As the tree's "mouth" or roots, are pressed to the earth to gain nutrients needed for growth, we must find ourselves daily seeking spiritual nourishment from God's Word.  This is how we grow in our Christian life and learn from the Holy Spirit of God, and gain the character He wants us to show to the world. "Against the earth's sweet flowing breast"....  God's Word is ever flowing and alive.  Every time we go to God's Word, we can receive anew, what we need to keep going and face the challenges we face each day in this world.

(looks at God each day):  Ps. 119:164 says "Seven times a day I praise you for your righteous rules."

Hebrews 12:1, 2 " Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us,
² looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God."

      
Jesus is our example.  We should be looking to Him each day, and not to the world, or celebrities or athletes for an example of how we should think and live our lives. We should not be modeling our self or our appearance after these people. There are good people in the world, that we can look to and model our lives after, many of them.  But Jesus is the only "perfect" human being that never sinned or offended God in any way. It is Him to whom we should look to see what kind of person we were meant to be..

(lifts her leafy arms to pray):  I Tim. 2:8  "I will therefore that men pray every where, lifting up holy hands,..."  and King David says in Ps. 143:6a  "I stretch out my hands to you, my soul thirsts for you like a parched land. Selah"  

Do we really thirst for GOD each day?  What do you do when trials and times of difficulty and sadness or confusion come?  Does this drive you to act in your own power and thinking? Or are you driven to thirst after God and His answers for your situation? We can fill our lives and hearts and minds with so many things!  There are so many temptations to "satisfy" our every desire, thrown at us each and every day in this world, but only GOD can truly quench that thirst or fill that hungry desire. He has ordained that we should receive those blessings by coming to Him in prayer each day.   As the tree in our poem "lifts her leafy arms" to God...  we are told in the Bible to life our hands in prayer and praise to the God of the Universe.  To thank Him for all His blessings in our lives; to praise Him for His presence and attention to us, mere humans who have in the past rejected and disobeyed Him and gone our own way;  yet in His infinite mercy He made a way for us to be forgiven, by sending His own Son Jesus, to die in our place.  (John 3:16)  

I Thess 5:17 instructs us to "pray without ceasing".  How can we do that?  We can utter prayers to our Father in Heaven at any given minute of any day.  Day or night. In joy and in sorrow. There is no limit on how many times we should talk to God in prayer. This can be done all throughout the course of a day. We have a direct line to God, our Father, who loves us and desires we come to Him for assistance with the things we face each day. He is always there listening for our voice.

(a nest of robins in her hair):  I believe this can represent the "good works" that we do each day as we live in God's presence.  Good works cannot save us.  God's Word tells us that "all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags" before a holy God.

Isaiah 64:6  "But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.

But we are told that after we have accepted Jesus Christ as our Savior, that our lives should reflect that change:  that new person we have become!  Phil. 1:11  says: "Being filled with the fruits of righteousness."  Titus 2:3-6 says: ".. that they be in behavior as becometh holiness....  in all things showing thyself a pattern of good works."   and I Tim. 2:9,10 "In like manner also, that women adorn themselves with good works." (emphasis mine)  We can "adorn" our lives with the good things we do for others in the name of Jesus.  We can be his hands, so to speak, when we give help or aid to those that need it.

(intimately lives with rain): We can and will all face trials and hard times in our lives.  We will suffer losses: family members, friends, maybe health or well-being.  What matters most is how we react to these things when they come. 

The tree in our poem, knows what it feels like to have the storms and rain and lightning hit. She is sometimes even scarred by lightning strikes and must have limbs removed to save the life of the tree or prevent damage to her surroundings.  You've heard the saying "into every life some rain may fall"..  it happens to us all as we live day by day.  James 1:2-5 tells us to "count it all joy when ye fall into divers (or various types of) temptations."  How can we find trials and temptations to be a "joy"? Because we can be assured that just as this tree survived the rain and storms by putting down deep roots so that she is nourished and strong, we too, can put down deep roots through the study of God's Word and maintaining an intimate relationship with Him. Then when the rains come and the wind blows, we will have a firm foundation that will carry us through.  We won't fall or be destroyed by the hard times that come our way, but rather strengthened by them. Just as those deep roots support the tree, God will provide the support we need in those times. 

King David said "⁵ "When the waves of death compassed me, the floods of ungodly men made me afraid;⁶ The sorrows of hell compassed me about; the snares of death prevented me;⁷ In my distress I called upon the Lord, and cried to my God: and he did hear my voice out of his temple, and my cry did enter into his ears."  He knew how to survive the hard times! He had prepared a lifetime of learning to listen to the voice of God and seek His face in the hard times.  He called upon the Lord and had the confidence that God heard his prayers.

(but only God can make a tree):  Ps. 127:1 says " Except the Lord build the house, they labour in vain that build it: except the Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain."  In John 15:5 Jesus tells us:  "without me you can do nothing."  There is only so much man can do to help us in our times of need; but God made us and He is intimately acquainted with what we need in times of distress.  Only God could have made us and formed us in our Mother's womb. His Word tells us He counts the very hairs on our heads;  that there is no where we can go and be separated from His presence.  "only God can make a tree".... only God has the answers to all the needs of His own creation.

I don't know about you, but I want my life to reflect all the beauty of this lovely tree in this beautiful poem by Joyce Kilmer.  
How about you?  In this new year, 2015, let's aim each day to be like a lovely tree, lifting our arms (and hearts) in prayer and gathering nourishment from God.  Then our lives will be beautiful and pleasing to Him and one day we will hear: (Matt. 25:21) "His lord said unto him, Well done, thou good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord."

LRH