A Word About Trees

Every morning as I walk out my front door, there’s a tree in my yard that stands at attention like a sentry ready to greet me. In the spring of the year, it’s wearing lovely green leaves and pinkish-white blossoms. But by early summer those blossoms are gone, and the shade that that tree provides is a welcome addition to our yard. In late September, the pallet of color on that tree begins to change again, and it decides to put on an amazing display of incredibly beautiful shades of crimson. It’s a Scarlet Maple Tree, and this morning it did its best to remind me of our great and creative God.

I can’t help myself, this time of the year. Often as I drive around our town, and especially on certain mornings when I walk out my front door ready to start my day, that extraordinary line from the prophet Isaiah runs through my mind: “You will go out in joy and be led forth in peace; the mountains and hills will burst into song before you, and all the trees of the field will clap their hands.” That beautiful tree in my front yard is doing its best to alert me to the realities of the goodness of God by standing resolute in brilliant color, as it gives the Lord a standing ovation.

I can hear it, if I’m smart enough to listen for it, I think. It’s almost as it that tree is saying, ‘Don’t forget the joy of the Lord as you leave this morning. The joy of the Lord is your strength. You’re going out the door this morning with that joy all over you. And you’re being led forth by God in peace, the very peace that Jesus said he would leave for you and give to you; not a peace like the world gives, but rather peace like a river. And those ups and the downs that today’s uncertainties may hold? Those mountains that loom before you, the hills you have to climb? Those are opportunities for bursting into new songs about God’s provision. As you sing those new songs, the trees are giving both you and the Lord Jesus a standing ovation. “

The color in that tree in my yard is a wonderful reminder for me about my life with Jesus. Autumn’s leaves alert me to the fact that change is in the wind. Those beautiful leaves won’t last long. I need to enjoy them while I can. Sooner or later, they’ll fall to the ground … and so will I. That’s the way life is, as part of God’s divine plan.  Today, I have so much to be thankful for. I’m thankful for that beautiful tree. And I’m thankful for eyes to be able to see it. And ears to hear the wind rustling those gorgeous leaves in an ovation to God’s faithfulness. 

Psalm 19 says, “The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands.” The earth joins in, too; the fields, the rivers, the trees. Poet Edgar A. Guest wrote in one of his lovely poems, “I’d rather see a sermon than hear one any day.” Every morning our red maple tree preaches me a sermon about God’s goodness I never get tired of seeing.