Like the Trees

Fall is finally here, and my heart is happy. I love watching the trees worship the Lord – the way they move and stand and the way their branches bend. And even now as the leaves are changing colors, falling away, and dying (even now) the trees are bringing glory to Him.

It makes me think of the words of the prophet Isaiah about being an “oak of righteousness.” If we can be like a tree, able to praise Him and bring glory to Him in all seasons, then we are really living. Real worship and real living means embracing all seasons of life and finding beauty in the way our branches bend. Finding beauty in standing still and in swaying with the wind. Oh that we could be like the trees and praise Him.

I have learned how to praise the Lord in the fall and winter when I feel like I am dying and I’ve lost my identity. I also have learned how to praise God in the springtime when growth is evident and new things abound. And now He is teaching me how to give praise in the summertime when life is good and easy and laid-back.

Life is good and easy and laid-back.

These are adjectives I never imagined using to describe my life. And they are so true! My life is good and easy and laid-back. I love waking up to life and finally being Grace. Unfortunately, because I can now use these words, I have this mentality that I’ve reached the end of my race. I’ve made it, I’m complete, I’m done. (And those of you who are older than I smirk at my youthful ignorance.) 

The Lord has been kind to me over the last four months to give me rest from the constant storm, and in that rest I mistakenly thought we (God and I) were at the end. But alas, there are still plenty of things I need to learn and discover. And there are things that I thought I knew, but I find myself slipping into old ways of thinking and believing lies that I denounced a long time ago.

Yesterday a memory flashed through my mind of a very painful time in middle school. The wound stung. And then I became very frustrated with myself because I have already been healed from that particular hurt, and there I was reliving it and taking on the blame. Does this mean I’m not really healed from it?

No, not at all! I am healed from it. (Period. It is finished.) However, it is so important to find the balance between being healed and being made whole in Him and recognizing that I still make mistakes and my race is not over yet. I have more to learn, and I have new ground on which to run. (How exciting!) I’m entering a new phase of my race. A time when I can put into practice all I have learned. A time to love. A time to listen. A time to learn.

I am like a tree. I go through seasons, some seasons are more brutal than others, and some are more beautiful. But regardless of the season, like the trees, I desire to bring praise to Him in every action and every word, always.

Riches I heed not, nor man's empty praise,

Thou mine inheritance, now and always,

Thou and Thou only, first in my heart, 
High King of Heaven, my Treasure Thou art.