The Journey Tree

Jeremiah 17:5-8 NLT

This is what the LORD says:
“Cursed are those who put their trust in mere humans,
who rely on human strength
and turn their hearts away from the LORD. They are like stunted shrubs in the desert,
with no hope for the future.
They will live in the barren wilderness,
in an uninhabited salty land. “But blessed are those who trust in the LORD
and have made the LORD their hope and confidence. They are like trees planted along a riverbank,
with roots that reach deep into the water.
Such trees are not bothered by the heat
or worried by long months of drought.
Their leaves stay green,
and they never stop producing fruit.

Seems like I ought to explain my chosen title. I chose this title for my blog several months ago but never really got it up and running. I feel the time is now to begin documenting and sharing pieces of this life I'm living.

People have always described life to me as a journey. We see the metaphor everywhere--'a path we're walking, 'the road less traveled' and the Bible even speaks of walking the "narrow road" (Matthew 7:14). Yes, all these metaphors work well but I came across another my reading (a simile technically...if you look at it in context but that is neither here nor there). It describes those of us who have our hope and confidence in the Lord as trees planted on a river bank. Their roots grow deep in the rich, moist soil. Even when hard times come that tree is healthy, green and it bears fruit. God says the alternative is a 'stunted shrub it the desert with no hope of a future.' Which would you rather be?

This is not the only place in the Bible God compares us to plants. Jesus calls us to vines who bear fruit and are firmly anchored in Christ in His parable of the vine and the branches (John 15). The alternative in that story is to be cast into fire. The lesson to be pulled from both illustrations it that as Christians we must be firmly rooted in Christ that we might be healthy and bare fruit.

When I first read this passage likening out lives to those of trees by the river bank I immediately liked the image but could not fit it with my previous notion of life being like a journey. I, for one, feel almost constant motion in life...things are always changing! If I truly am on a journey how can I live life like the tree rooted on the river bank or the branch attached firmly to the life giving vine. But then I realized I was over thinking the matter...it's all just metaphor.

So there you have it. We are to be trees on a journey....metaphorically speaking that is. Which brings me back to the beginning of my blog. As my family begins the new year I feel compelled to thank God for the previous one. It has been a year of plenty, a year of joy, a year of overflowing love and ultimately year of peace. As I look forward to the new year and all that it holds (it promises to be a topsy turvy one) it is this past year of peace for which I feel so blessed. It has been an opportunity grow closer to my husband, my daughter and my God...bonds I'm sure will be tested as we walk into or new life as a military family. It has been a year where I have truly been able to sit by the riverbank and stretch my roots...to remember my hope and my confidence are in the Lord. This year it is time to pick up my things and get back on the road. Never forgetting that as I walk I am to always remain rooted in the hope and confidence that only comes from God. It is this next stage of my journey that I feel compelled to share.

~ Kora