The Prize in My Backyard

A few days ago while sitting in my little screen tent in my backyard, I looked again at my favorite tree. It is an oak tree and bears all an oak’s characteristics. It has scaly bark, and lots of huge green leaves that turn brown in the fall and then requires us to rake them all into a fire in our back forty. (Feet that is) It has the rugged look, huge in all ways and appears very strong. One of its greatest virtues is that it affords at least a third of our back yard with wonderful shade.

Its gigantic size is enough to make one stare in awe. I began to eyeball the size of the lowest of its branches. With my naked and untrained eye, I estimated the length of the branch as about thirty feet, most of which is fairly straight. I didn’t trust my raw calculation so today I went out with a 30 foot measuring tape and found that my tape had extended its full self and there was at least ten feet of branch beyond. I shook my head in disbelief. Forty feet of extended branch is a tremendous weight for that tree to uphold.

I walked to the front of the house and found my husband sitting in a chair drinking a Coke. I told him about my discovery. He was in awe, too. He informed me that oak trees roots extend underground to the tip of its branches. Evidently there are a whole lot of roots under that ground. The measured branch is only the biggest of one of dozens of branches attached to the huge trunk. My husband asked if I had measured the trunk’s circumference and I replied that I hadn’t thought of that. So, together, we went back to the tree. It took both of us to wrap the tape around the belly of the trunk. It measured 125 inches around. That is over ten feet around. I suppose we shouldn’t have been surprised of its girth since we had discovered how much weight the trunk has to bear.

There are scars on the tree where branches have broken off and some have been sawed off. Those scars tell me that the tree has sustained some damage from storms that come in the form of wind, snow and rain. I have often thought of how I am like that oak tree. The storms in my life have left their mark. There are scars on me that may be invisible from the outside but they are very real on the inside.

While I can have the strength of an oak through the power of God, there is evidence in me that as a branch of God’s family, I am totally weak without roots. My tendency is to reach out pretty far from my Source and take on stuff that requires me to make sure my roots are deep enough to support the weight. Sometimes my roots shrink from lack of moisture. I’ve realized more than once in my life that if my roots aren’t deep into God’s Word, I can expect failure in the things I try to do. To grow roots equal to the plan God has for us to live out means soaking up as much moisture from God’s Word as we can. It is called “living water”. God promises to give us the kind of water that will solve our thirst issues forever. If we tap into that well, our roots will grow to reach the edge of God’s plan for each of us. Drink up.