A Tree Blessing

It looked like half a tree on the ground.  A huge pecan limb came crashing to the ground the other night in the darkness and left us in the darkness for several hours.  Before it was cut up and hauled off, I measured it by stepping it off.  Over sixty feet of tree with all the pecans it would have made were laying on the ground.  It was one of the older trees on the farm.  Most folks guess it to be as old as the old farm house which dates back to the early 1900's.  Watching it go made me think of all the folks it has blessed.

 

It has blessed generation after generation with pecans to eat and sell.  It has provided shade on hot summer days for those who toiled in the fields next to it.  Squirrels nested in it and birds made it their home.  I have seen an old hoot owl perched on one of its limbs watching the chickens who walked around the chicken yard.  It has brought me and others food and pleasure through the years of its life.  And even though a big chunk of it is gone, a larger portion still stands with promises of more blessings to come.

 

A tree planted so long ago has been such a blessing to so many for so long.  I can understand why some from other traditions would look at such a tree and thank it for being such a blessing.  The longer I live under the shadow of these long livers and long givers the more I, too, want to thank the trees for being such a blessing.  But, what they really call me to do is to thank God for this incredible creation which He has put all around me and for the way it continues to bless me as it has the many who have lived here ever so briefly in this place on the earth. 

The Hardest Repentance

During a night when sleep seemed to be in another room, I found myself moving about the house and finally stepping outside on the front porch.  To my surprise the hold darkness had on the earth was being broken by a sun that was still hiding under the eastern edge of the earth.  I stood there seeing what there was to see in that early morning light.   It occurred to me in those moments of looking that the sun was in no hurry to show itself.  The sun never seems to hurry.  It simply does it's thing every day in it's own time with no sense of hurrying, or being in a hurry.

 

We are the ones who hurry.  Of all the creatures in the creation, we are the one that hurries, stays in a hurry, and seems to forget all about the lessons of patience and waiting, lessons which the creation is always teaching us.  Everything else moves and grows without hurry.  Yet, as smart as we are and from our perch of having dominion over all things, we ignore one of the most basic laws of the created order.  Not even the Creator of the creation gets in a hurry.  We hold the market on always hurrying from one place and thing to another.

 

Hurrying does nothing to add to the number of our days, nor does it add to the quality of our days.  Actually, it only diminishes both the number and their quality. Though smart enough to know such is true, we still run from one thing to another without breathing.  Perhaps, this hurrying of ours is one of our greatest temptation and most common sins.  Who would have ever thought hurrying was a cause for repentance?  Of course, to repent means more than acknowledgment, but turning away to another choice.

A Marvellous Creation

One of the things which has resonated with my spirit in my growing awareness of Celtic spirituality is its earthiness.  It is full of references to water, earth, wind, and fire.  It touches the basics of life in such a way that dirty hands are seen as blessing and routine mundane work becomes a catalyst for prayers of blessing.  It is amazing how it brings the most common, most ordinary, most profane of things inside the realm of our spiritual life.

 

I thought about all of this yesterday as I marked another birthday.  As I thanked God for the blessing of seventy-one years, I remembered a Celtic prayer which dared to thank God for "the bed of my conception."  While it is unfortunately not always the case, it is a blessing to know our beginning was the result of love shared between two people who then lived to shape our lives for good.  And, what is true for all of us regardless of the circumstances of our conception and beginning is that God, the Creator, was present and a part of that moment of beginning.

 

The Word tells us that God knew us before our beginning and watched us as we were being shaped and formed in the womb of our mother.  It is a marvellous and wonderful thing this thing of creation.  The creation we see all around us is a testimony to the creative power of God.  It is truly astounding to behold.  Take a look in the mirror today and know once again the marvellous power of God.   And, know, too, that as surely as God has a plan for every tree which grows and every bird which sings, He has a plan for the one who is looking back at us in the mirror.

No Room for Pretence

In my early adolescent years I lived under the illusion that I could be a Christian and no one would have to know about it.  I laughed and participated in conversations and activities which demeaned other people as I told myself my actions repesented a facade that gave me peer approval.  I thought I could live with my actions saying one thing and still have a heart that was loyal to another.  It is amazing how we can deceive ourselves. 

 

When the woman of Samaria really accepted Jesus as the Messiah, she did not make it the big secret of her life.  Going back to her village where people regarded her as one of the chief sinners, she told them about Jesus who was out at Jacob's Well.  She spoke of Him in such a convincing way that she caused many to go out and see Jesus for themselves.  The sinner became the evangelist.  The one called unrighteous led the many to the holy righteous One who waited for them there on the edge of their village.

 

A phrase often heard is "walk the talk."  If we are truly a follower of Jesus, it should not be necessary for anyone to wonder if we are a Christian.  A follower of Jesus is the one who is the first to give love and seek reconciliation.  A follower of Jesus is always one who seeks the fruit of the Spirit.  A follower of Jesus is one who puts the agenda of Jesus ahead of all others.  It should be as obvious as day and night.  It should be such for any of us who allow our lips to speak of Jesus.

The First Encounter

There is truly something special about that first encounter with Jesus in which His life changing power is allowed to work in our hearts. Anyone who has chosen the way of Jesus has a history of many powerful moments with Jesus, but the one which sets the course for the rest of life is one which can never be forgotten.  The Samaritan woman who met Jesus under the heat of the noon day sun had no expectation which included meeting someone like Jesus, but there He was as if He had waiting for her all her life.

 

At first she did as so many of us have done.  She sought to push Him away.  She threw up all the defense systems she had used to protect herself from vulnerability and love.  Judgment was something with which she was well acquainted, but freely given grace and unconditional acceptance was not a part of her daily experience.  As is the case with so many of us, in the beginning she did not know what to do with someone like Jesus so she tried to escape.  Even as we run for some hiding place, Jesus comes running behind us.  He did not give up on this woman and He does not give up on us.

 

As long as I live and am able to remember, I will count with gratitude that night He waited for me as I knelt beside a bed that had become an altar.  It was a moment of confessing that my life was a mess.  It was a moment of a forgiveness I still do not understand.  It was a moment of knowing I belonged.  It was a moment of beginning.  I asked Jesus to come into my life as Savior and He did.  I have never looked back at that moment with regret, only joy and overwhelming thanksgiving.

Two Dimensional Conversation

The conversation Jesus had with the woman of Samaria at Jacob's Well was such a two dimensional conversation.  He was talking at one level and she at another.  She kept going to what was logical and pragmatic while He pursued a spiritual end.  When Jesus said, "...you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water" (John 4:10), the woman started talking about Him not having a bucket and the well being deep.  When Jesus spoke of "...a spring of water gushing up to eternal life"  John 4:14), she said, "Sir, give me this water, so that I may never be thirsty or have to keep coming here to draw water." (John 4:15)

 

She was not the first person to encounter Jesus and pull such a stunt.  More of us have done the same thing more than we might want to admit.  Perhaps, we have heard Jesus telling us to go and to serve in a specific way and we pushed it aside with a response that is less demanding than we know He intended.  Or, perhaps, we have memories of some very personal encounters with Jesus in which He showed us our real self as He did when He pointed out to the Samaritan woman that she had five husbands.  We often choose to live in a pretend world where Jesus does not really know and understand the things about us of which He speaks.

 

Two dimensional conversation is a way of keeping the conversation and the One speaking at a comfortable distance.  It keeps us from having to deal with the real issues of our heart by pushing back or thrusting them aside as issues not as important as Jesus would make them.  Jesus speaks a word to us about a need for confession and repentance and we say what I used to say to my Mother as a boy, "Everybody is doing it."  Fortunately, for the woman of Samaria Jesus finally broke through to heal her broken heart and know for sure that He is relentlessly doing the same with us. 

The Needs of Jesus

"Give me a drink,"  (John 4:7) was what Jesus said to the Samaritan woman at Jacob's Well.  She was equipped to handle the request since she was there to draw water for her daily household needs.  She was probably still surprised since as she put it, "How is it that you, a Jew, ask a drink of me, a woman of Samaria?"  (John 4:9)  It was a natural request on the part of Jesus.  He had been on the road and He had nothing to use to pull water up from the depth of this ancient well. 

 

It is not often in the gospels that we hear Jesus asking for someone's help.  Certainly, He did at Jacob's Well and then again from the cross as he spoke through His agony, "I am thirsty."  (John 19:28)  There were certainly other times when others cared for His needs as Mary and Martha did in their home and Zacchaeus did when Jesus came into his town.  The truth is Jesus depended upon others throughout His ministry.  He was the Son of God and He did have divine powers, but His was not a solo act.

It remains the same today.  Jesus calls folks like you and me to help Him, to share with Him, and to partner with Him in doing those things He wants to do in the world.  While He could surely snap His fingers and bring His power to bear, or He could send forth a host of heavenly angels to do his bidding, He has ordained a way of accomplishing His work which involves using the likes of us.  The next time we sense Jesus is asking to do something, to care for someone, or to serve another, let us remember as we offer what He asks, we are accomplishing something He needs to get done.