“But blessed is the man who trusts me, God,
the woman who sticks with God.
They’re like trees replanted in Eden,
putting down roots near the rivers—
Never a worry through the hottest of summers,
never dropping a leaf,
Serene and calm through droughts,
bearing fresh fruit every season.”
Jeremiah 17:7-8 (MSG)
You shared this scripture on Instagram yesterday. When I saw it I told you how much it meant to
me, too. I showed you my bracelet and
said, “See, I wear this silver tree on my wrist to remind me every day.”
I realize now that I should have said more. I should have told WHY those old, poetic
words from far gone days are burned into my soul. I should have said, “They changed me forever.”
I suppose I didn’t want to sound silly. Who does that? Who lives their life every day as if all of
it is one big metaphor for a single verse in scripture? Something that was
written a few thousand years ago and isn’t really about me at all. I know that and so do you. We took the same Hebrew Bible class at the
same seminary in the exact same classroom (though over a decade apart.) Smart Christians don’t read into scripture
things that aren’t there. We don’t take
it apart verse by verse and apply the ones we like, discard the ones we
don’t. Smart Christians understand
historical context and ancient Mesopotamian world-views and smart Christians
don’t extrapolate twenty-first century meaning from words that weren’t written
for us or even about us. (Secretly, I’m
finding myself becoming less and less a smart Christian and that’s ok with me.)
If I had been brave, this is what I would have said: This scripture has transformed me. In a way that defies explanation, these words
have been Spirit words, holy and alive, redefining my own sense of self.
Blessed is she who
trusts in me, God….she will be like a tree planted by the water, sending out
roots in the stream….
It hit me like a brick one day. Trusting in God means standing still. It means that we cease striving. We stop wondering where we are going and if
we are moving in the right direction. We
don’t think of ourselves as always one wrong decision away from not serving
God. We stop defining ourselves by what
we do, what we believe, or where we go.
Blessed is she who
trusts in me, God….she will be like a tree planted by the water, sending out
roots in the stream….
If we are like a tree that is planted in God, then we are no
longer trying to find ourselves in our husband, our children, our career, or
our home. Instead, we find ourselves in
the deep, deep mystery of God’s grace. And bit by bit our roots go further into that beautiful abyss of love that is
God.
Blessed is she who
trusts in me, God….she will be like a tree planted by the water, sending out
roots in the stream….
So we stand by the Living Waters and decide that this place,
the heart of God is going to be our dwelling place.
We plant ourselves next to Jesus himself and let our roots
go down deep, deeper, and deeper still.
Then, before we realize it, something beautiful begins to
happen…
We begin to stand taller.
We grow stronger.
Storms come and go, winds blow, but we are not afraid.
We are not afraid because we have been transformed into daughters of God Most High and we
know there is no greater place to be than where we are right now. No better person to be than the person we are right
now. No task more important than simply
growing in God’s grace.
Never a worry through the hottest of summers,
never dropping a leaf,
Serene and calm through droughts,
bearing fresh fruit every season.
This is what I wish I had known all those years ago when I was
where you are now and I am sorry I didn’t share this last night, but you know
how it is…we had a very important TV show to watch and watching TV is
infinitely easier than sharing your heart.
No comments:
Post a Comment