Thought for Today
Genesis 1:29 God said, "See, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit; you shall have them for food.
Genesis 2:16 And the Lord God commanded the man, "You may freely eat of every tree of the garden; 17 but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall die."
Matthew 3:10 Even now the ax is lying at the root of the trees; every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.
Luke 13:7 So he said to the gardener, 'See here! For three years I have come looking for fruit on this fig tree, and still I find none. Cut it down! Why should it be wasting the soil?'
Houston’s in-town Memorial Park is the southern extreme of an incredibly dense forest covering most of east Texas. Just north of where Greta and I raised our family lies the Sam Houston National Forest, 163, 037 acres of loblolly pines, various oaks and sweetgums. There are dogwoods and many other varieties of trees. Nearby is the Big Thicket National Preserve. “The Big Thicket is the name given to a somewhat imprecise region of a heavily forested area of Southeast Texas in the United States. This area represents a portion of the mixed pine-hardwood forests or ‘Piney Woods’ of the Southeast US.” (Wikipedia) The Preserve covers 113,122 acres. The name Big Thicket comes from pioneer days when the area was so densely covered with trees that it was hard to traverse except on foot.
I love woods, forests and trees. Our home in New England had no trees directly on our property when we moved here. The homes on our street were built on cleared land, with trees bordering where the homes are now. There is a ring of mostly pines surrounding the field behind our home and alongside our northeast property line. Our builder planted 2 maples in our yard when the home was built. In the 10 years we have lived here, Greta and I have planted 2 additional maples, 2 apple trees, 5 dogwoods, 2 Japanese maples and 2 Norwegian spruces. While we were away on our recent trip, our trees began to bud.
The “Piney Woods’ of the Southeast US” are full of evergreen trees with a mix of deciduous trees who do lose their leaves each year. Here in New England, deciduous trees are more prominent. We have come to love the fall leaf-change as the trees, woods and forests explode in riotous color. Throughout much of small-town New England, fall tourism is an important element of the local economy.
But, wherever you live, in the East Texas Piney Woods, in New England or elsewhere, the flora of our earth is a reminder of the magnitude and love of our Creator God. God created Creation with its abundance of plants, bushes and trees, with its mixture of evergreen and deciduous. God created Creation with coastal plains, dense forests, high plateaus and deserts. God created Creation with mountains, with lakes and with oceans.
I am especially aware of both the vastness of Creation and the variety of Creation each spring. As I look out my window this morning, I see pines, oaks, maples, dogwoods and apple trees. I see flowers emerging from the ground; I see deer, squirrels, birds, truly a wealth of flora and fauna. All given to those “Genesis 1:27 created in his image, in the image of God.” All given to God’s children with only a single restriction, ‘don’t eat from that 1 tree.’
Was it inevitable that we would do the 1 thing which we were forbidden to do? Maybe?!? God also created us with free will. Remember, it’s not ‘free’ will unless we are free to choose. Free to choose obedience to the Word of God; free to choose disobedience.
All actions come with consequences. Jesus offered the parable above about the fig tree that failed to bear fruit. Are we being reminded of the possible consequences of our choices? What lesson must we learn from the Bible’s stories of Creation and from the parables of Jesus? Watch the news, read the news, judge for yourselves how we are doing in bearing the fruits of the Spirit. We need to do better. Remember the words of the prophet Yoda, “Do or do not, there is no try!”
Stay safe, bear fruit to hasten the Kingdom of God, trust God,
Pastor Ray