In Jeremiah 17:5-6 The Lords says about the man who trust in mankind and forgets about Him that he will be like a bush in the desert and will live in stony wastes in the wilderness. Then, in verse 7 He blesses the man who trust Him and declares that he will be like a tree planted by the water that extends its roots by a stream and will not fear when the heat comes…
Once, years ago, while in the States and involved in wonderful Christian missionary endeavors, I had the opportunity of being invited to spend a weekend in a park and we rested all day long alongside a little and placid stream, with our heads on its shore under shading trees and our feet immersed in the coolest water we could expect in that worm summertime.
I felt “so happy” as I thought that would be the way of living while obeying God! I felt so distant from the city noises and thought that you probably would have to walk the streets but from time to time you would also be able to go away from its turbulences to rest as I was doing that day. It was a bucolic image of good times and success while extending your hands and opening your heart to the sufferers, the rejected and the abused of this world.
The last 6 years, being back in our native country Nicaragua, to serve the Lord by protecting children, we lived in a traditional neighborhood, just a block away from the residence of a former President and a very neat and cozy park known as Las Palmas (THE PALMS). But the Lord sent us back to our real homes, our family ones, in a similar middle class neighborhood both in Guatemala and El Salvador.
I thought I was enjoying again being by the side of another placid stream, getting ready for future missionary tasks. I was happily proclaiming, adding somehow to the Ecclesiastes that surely there is a time to give and a time to receive, and that we were just enjoying a well deserved warriors´ rest. But the Lord had a lesson coming while forcing me to face what I thought were spiritual attacks from the world trying to destroy our family happiness and way of living.
Just a few weeks ago I had to go back and stay with another one of my sons, just two blocks away to that park but in an opposite direction to my former place. My wife and I went for a stroll in the park with my son and his little daughter. What a shock to see so much garbage around and people sitting as this were the most usual sight to enjoy.
Once, years ago, while in the States and involved in wonderful Christian missionary endeavors, I had the opportunity of being invited to spend a weekend in a park and we rested all day long alongside a little and placid stream, with our heads on its shore under shading trees and our feet immersed in the coolest water we could expect in that worm summertime.
I felt “so happy” as I thought that would be the way of living while obeying God! I felt so distant from the city noises and thought that you probably would have to walk the streets but from time to time you would also be able to go away from its turbulences to rest as I was doing that day. It was a bucolic image of good times and success while extending your hands and opening your heart to the sufferers, the rejected and the abused of this world.
The last 6 years, being back in our native country Nicaragua, to serve the Lord by protecting children, we lived in a traditional neighborhood, just a block away from the residence of a former President and a very neat and cozy park known as Las Palmas (THE PALMS). But the Lord sent us back to our real homes, our family ones, in a similar middle class neighborhood both in Guatemala and El Salvador.
I thought I was enjoying again being by the side of another placid stream, getting ready for future missionary tasks. I was happily proclaiming, adding somehow to the Ecclesiastes that surely there is a time to give and a time to receive, and that we were just enjoying a well deserved warriors´ rest. But the Lord had a lesson coming while forcing me to face what I thought were spiritual attacks from the world trying to destroy our family happiness and way of living.
Just a few weeks ago I had to go back and stay with another one of my sons, just two blocks away to that park but in an opposite direction to my former place. My wife and I went for a stroll in the park with my son and his little daughter. What a shock to see so much garbage around and people sitting as this were the most usual sight to enjoy.
It sure there is a time to toil and a time to rest. A time to rejuvenate your inner strength! A time to be not just a tree but a palm tree, as the name of the place we were in, and not just a run of the mill one. And will you ask me why? I did not know it then but I came to know it just one morning after while waiting to cash some dollars in that neighborhood bank.
That morning while waiting for the bank to open I sat on the border of a flower bed just in front of a palm tree. A bee tried to rest a little bit on my face and this forced me to watch the busy back and forth flying of many other ones over the clump of a luscious palm blooming patch just in front of my eyes.
That morning while waiting for the bank to open I sat on the border of a flower bed just in front of a palm tree. A bee tried to rest a little bit on my face and this forced me to watch the busy back and forth flying of many other ones over the clump of a luscious palm blooming patch just in front of my eyes.
A sudden revelation just shocked me out of my seat. I got my camera and in a very clumsy way tried to catch the busy paths of the bees, and I realized that you can be like a tree in the midst of the noisy sidewalks of the streets, if you thirstily drink from the living waters of the Lord.
I realized that your destiny as a Christian is to become a blooming patch in such a palm tree to let the little bees of this world suck away the rejuvenated strength of your inner self so the former bees you nourished and the ones to come can become in time newer palm trees of the mercy of the Lord.God is such a Friend besides being your Savior and your Lord that He never allows the “refining fire” of His allowed tests to burn you down to useless ashes. He invites you to walk through thunder, fire and floods, so you can walk over this world burning coals purifying your heart so you later on can show His Divine Character through you.
You don´t need the flowing waters of the worldly success, even in well intentioned Christian feats! If you dream of becoming a huge and luxuriant tree for all the bystanders to see, peacefully lying down with your feet in the cooling waters of recognition and respect, He will shake you off, trim you down, taking you to the hot sidewalks of the streets, to strengthen you and revitalize your inner self.
He will do it to show you that you can be a living palm tree for the bees to come and take away the honey of your hope and trust in Christ so they can soothe their hurting throats for being the little and the despised ones of this world.
He will do it to show you that you can be a living palm tree for the bees to come and take away the honey of your hope and trust in Christ so they can soothe their hurting throats for being the little and the despised ones of this world.
He will do it so you can brighten the face and bring out the smiles of the expectant ones who applaud the nonsensical gibberish of the wandering clowns while dispiritedly keep on seeking an still uncertain path to any type of future...
as well as to encourage all those who have almost given up and have resigned themselves to live amongst the garbage and the filthy debris strewn around even in the coziest parks by the spoilers, the braggarts, the trashers and the insensitive abusers of this world.
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