Devotional 10-24-08

Trees Planted by Streams of Water

Please read Psalm 1 and Matthew 22: 34-39

I can appreciate the image used to distinguish the righteous from the wicked, whose path leads to death. The righteous are like trees planted by streams of water. They are healthy, prosperous, and fruitful. Obviously, the streams of water represent God. Notice that the trees didn’t just end up by the stream; no, they were purposefully planted there, just as we are created intentionally to be in relationship with God.

If I could look at a graph of my spirituality, I would see peaks and valleys. Using the image of the tree, I can imagine that there are times when my roots are soaking in the water. I can look back at the most fruitful, healthiest, happiest times in my life and see clearly that those were times of intimacy with God—streams of living water. However, there have been times when I have experienced spiritual drought and feel like I could wither away. I can imagine that the roots are moving in the wrong direction, seeking nourishment from something else. On the surface, everything is fine; the tree is standing, and the stream certainly hasn’t moved. Underneath, something’s not right. Eventually, the tree will dry up and die.

The good news is that when we are planted near the stream, our roots go deep and become entwined with other trees whose strength and nourishment come from the same stream. We hold each other up, just as the community of the righteous—the body of Christ—support each other in times of trial.

Through nothing of my own doing, and I suppose you would call it God’s prevenient grace, I am a descendent of the righteous. My ancestors were planted by streams of water—Gnat’s Run in Ritchie County and Laurel Lick in Lewis County. They lived out the two great commandments, loving God and loving neighbor as self. A friend recently told me that his family didn’t suffer during the depression because they were already poor; they didn’t lose anything and they already had their support systems for taking care of each other. It echoed something my Grandpa Mitchell told me 35 years ago about raising his family of nine children including my mother in the thirties and forties: “We didn’t have much, but we sure had a helluva time.”

The example set for me by the psalmist and my grandparents is to stay connected to God and community. Jesus said it another way: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.”

Dear God, thank you for streams of living water that never run dry and for the community of the righteousness. Fill us with water from the well that never runs dry so that we can bear fruit in our love for You and for our neighbors. Amen.

Jeff Taylor