3You’re a tree replanted in Eden,
bearing fresh fruit every month,
Never dropping a leaf,
always in blossom.
Psalm 1:1a; 3 The Message (MSG)
I’d like to start where the preachers in my life have almost always begun:
LORD – let me decrease now as YOU increase and receive Glory here. Let the words that flow from this pen serve to provide edification for another, to give strength, peace, and hope where needed – in the Matchless Name LORD JESUS!
I’m growing this tree. You may call it my “Promise” Tree, my “After This” Tree or my “Tree for every Season.” Whatever you decide to call it.
Many years ago, my Bishop preached a Word about that “… tree planted by the rivers of water …” The Message Bible says that ‘I’ am that ”… tree replanted in Eden…” That excites me and I’ll explain why. I had expected to be a little further ahead than I currently find myself. However, I have learned the “Secret of the Properly-Placed BUT”! The secret is this: When placed properly in a sentence, the word ‘but’ negates whatever has been previously said or written (exclamation point because that is exciting news!).
Psalm 1 is my “properly placed but!” And the reason I am growing my tree! Verse 1 (in the Message Bible) starts off by saying that “GOD must really like…” [me]. And when I give it a moment of thought, I think, “Yeaaahhh!! HE does.” There’s a gospel song that goes, “As I look back over my life, I can truly say, that I’ve been blessed! I have a testimony!” And while I unpretentiously admit that, no – everything is not perfect, All IS well, and what is not, will be! How do I know? Because GOD Promised. I get so excited about the “replanted” tree because, truth be known, as ‘trees’ go, I had been uprooted. I was jobless and believed that after my divorce, I couldn’t minister to anyone. Uprooted.
I live in a community that is situated within a regional park and there are trees everywhere. In some instances, due to the weather patterns of the Mid-Atlantic region, I notice that sometimes the trees that live in my park have fallen. I don’t mean that the leaves fall because it is autumn. It’s a combination of things. First, there is the weight of the ice in January plus the snow in February. Add to that the harsh rains of April and the winds of May. Before you know it, the vicissitudes of life can cause an entire tree to lift, from its roots, completely out of the ground. Never have I ever seen the park stewards come down to raise an uprooted tree and prop it up with sticks and ropes until the roots find their way back into the soil. What happens is, the overseers come out, pull the saw off the back of the truck and start cutting, from the trunk to the branches, and what may have once been a lovely and productive tree, no longer yields seeds that produce fruit to sustain area critters or blown in different directions to grow new trees or even shade on a warm summer day - all that potential - uprooted.
BUT – then I read verse 3 and became encouraged! Verse 3 points out that the tree (me) has been RE-Planted! And not only RE-Planted but Re-Planted in EDEN! Reeaalllyy? Eden? That beautiful place? That flourishing place? GOD is telling me that after all the things I’ve been through, I still get to have Joy! This IS Good News!
When I read that, I felt as if someone had poured ‘Miracle-Gro’ all over me! Which brings us to my tree! As I have felt my own roots digging deeper, I wanted a visual aide so I started saving seeds from an assortment of different fruit trees; apples, oranges, avocados, peaches, and plums! I planted them all together as a physical reminder of ‘my’ tree that will very soon, bear fruit and always blossom, never losing a leaf!!! I will NOT wither! I have a purpose! I am a Royal Priesthood and Chosen Generation! Because GOD promised! Yes and Amen!!!
I’m growing this tree. You can call it my “Promise” Tree, my “After This” Tree, or my “Tree for every Season.” Whatever you decide, you may call it.
Valerie Crawford
Contributing Writer
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