The Tree of Life

seasons change

Yesterday was Thanksgiving Day and I truly hate to confess that it didn't quite live up to the Hallmark Channel/Martha Stewart standard for me.  I really am thankful for so many things and for my relationship with God Himself, but I seem to be in a place of transition or change these days.  It feels like the leaves I see fluttering down outside, some old things are dying away and the landscape is becoming bare.  I can't quite see what the new will look like yet.

God has definitely been calling me to a new level of thankfulness in my heart with reminders on several fronts of how important that attitude is.  I read the devotional Jesus Calling, and every day has been saying something about thankfulness.  But it feels like my contentment meter reading has been tending more to the low side.  So after my Thanksgiving Day let down I knew it was time to take the issue to Jesus in prayer.  After a lot of honest venting and an equally honest look at scripture, I felt God reminding me of His promises to be with me in any and every circumstance.  For this reason, I do not need to be anxious.  In fact, God promises that when I bring my requests to God with thanksgiving, the peace of God will rule in my heart.

Sometimes I can hear scripture like that and its truth will instantly change the atmosphere of my soul.  But this time I didn't have peace and my anxious thoughts continued to rattle around.  

a barren tree

My breakthrough came with this thought popping into my mind:  I was camping out under the tree of the knowledge of good and evil!  That hit some kind of nail on the head for me.  How so?  I saw it fairly quickly -- I was trying to figure out what was "wrong" and what was "right" about me and others who I love and am concerned about.  I was trying to find the path to fixing the wrong things and bringing contentment to my heart.  Sounded reasonable to me.

But we are offered a great privilege - access to the Tree of  Life!  Our first ancestors were banned from it so that they would not live forever in their fallen state.  In their case, release from earthly life apart from God was merciful.  But in Jesus, we are made right.  We are no longer separated from God.  We have eternal life and we have it with God.  By eating from the Tree of Life we gain healing of our souls, we gain wisdom, we become more like Jesus.

a place to prosper

The tree of the knowledge of good and evil is a trap.  It keeps us occupied with things we have no control over and ultimately cannot change.  Jesus is our answer and it distracts us from casting our cares on him and trusting him and being loved by him.  Jesus is our Way (to God, to righteousness, to heaven), our Truth (the dispel-er of the enemy's  lies) and our Life (now and forever).  He is the Source of everything we need.  I don't know about the tree in the Garden of Eden, but I think the "tree of life" is a symbol of Jesus for us.  When we eat of that tree, we are partaking of the promises of God which are "yes and amen" in Christ Jesus.  We are trusting in God's plans to prosper us and not to harm us, to give us a hope and a future.  We experience the satisfaction of enjoying the Presence of Jesus in the midst of whatever is going on.

God described my particular brand of going to the tree of the knowledge of good and evil as trying to know why; trying to do the "right" thing to avert trouble; trying to understand so that I can prepare for the future or fix it; pursuing the outcome that I want.  And He described the tree of life for me as a place of surrender, release, and receiving.  It is where I lay down my expectations, even my needs, and let him provide what He knows is best.  It is where I hear Him, am reassured that I am loved, receive wisdom, encouragement, genuine hope.

God's beauty

Whatever is going on deep inside is not altogether settled.  I think that the image of the change of season when the leaves turn brown and drop off the trees may be pretty profound for me.  A lot of things that I took for granted and enjoyed are being removed, but now I see that their removal makes more room for Jesus in my heart.  I think that is a very good exchange and can say that I am thankful for it.

Scriptures referred to:  Psalm 23:4; Philippians 4:6-7; Genesis 2:9 and 3:22; Revelation 2:7; Romans 3:22-24 and 5:18-19;  Ephesians 2:12-13; John 14:6; 2 Corinthians 1:20; Jeremiah 33:3; Psalm 17:15 and 63:5