Let Us Be Trees

Are you rooted, built up, and strengthened in Him? That’s the season we’re in.

We were once seedlings like our grandchildren, easily trampled. Soon enough, we grew into mere saplings with shallow roots and paper-thin bark.

Now, as mature trees, we drink deeply from nearby streams, anchored by strong roots, producing fruit in abundance. Our craggy bark is impenetrable to the storms of life. Our arching branches pro­vide home and sustenance. Our leaves turn gold, then crimson, and fall to earth, enriching and nurturing generations of healthy growth.

As grandparents, our primary responsibility is to stand tall as trustworthy symbols of strength, protection, and provision. Pointing skyward to the Creator.

What’s more, we have become humbly aware that the cycle of life will one day call us back to the soil, confident that our legacy fosters new life, new growth, and new fruit.

You may recognize this imagery from the first three verses of the book of Psalms:

Blessed is the one who does not walk in step with the wicked or stand in the way that sinners take or sit in the company of mockers, but whose delight is in the law of the LORD, and who meditates on his law day and night. That person is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither—whatever they do prospers. (Psalm 1:1–3, NIV)

If that metaphor seems a bit too poetic for your taste, no worries. However, you must admit that you love the idea that “whatever [you] do prospers.”

To prosper, you need a plan that includes “not walking with the wicked” and “delighting in the law of the Lord.”

When it comes to your grandchildren, the plan to prosper requires you to be present in ways that delight and invite. With your adult children, it means getting on the same page and strengthening your relationship.

Finally, essential to your plan is resting in the secure knowledge that God will one day say, “Well done, my good and faithful servant” (Matthew 25:21 NLT).

All that is to say: may your roots run deep and your harvest be plentiful.

WHAT ABOUT YOU?

Maybe you don’t immediately see yourself as a tree. But God’s Word employs all kinds of metaphors for believers. You’ve read passages and heard sermons that call us to be salt and light, living stones, molded clay, branches of the vine, living temples, persevering athletes, and sheep. (See Matthew 5:13–14; 1 Peter 2:5; Isaiah 64:8; John 15:5; 1 Corinthians 6:19, 9:24–25; and Psalm 23.)

By the way, your grandchildren are also called to be all these things. Bookmark this page so you’ll know where to begin your Bible study and prayer for them. And with them!