Tuesday, November 23, 2004

Once upon a time there was a seed, but he didn’t really want to be a seed. He wanted really to be a tree. So, he began to learn everything there was to learn about trees. He read books like, The Purpose Driven Tree and The Emerging Tree. He interviewed people who had been trees for a long time whose leaves were so many there was no number that could enumerate them. He asked them questions like,

“How do you get so many leaves?” and “How do you present yourself that other leaves will want to come hang in your branches?”

He would even go and sit in the shade of some well-known trees. Many of them did a good job hiding the Sun.

As the days passed, he became frustrated because he was still a seed with no where to rest. He didn’t know what else to do. He had done everything it seemed. He had even studied all of the soil near him. Some was too hard. Some was too soft. Some was over-ridden with weeds. There were many days that he would lie down in his warm bed, take a long drink of water, and wonder if the frustration would ever end. Until one day...

IT happened.

His limbs started to grow, and his arms branched out to the forests and towns near by. As the Sun shone through his leaves, he finally realized that he never really was just a seed. He had always been a tree just in a different season of growth.

Tuesday, November 16, 2004

Who I am is not a reflection of what I do, but what I do is a reflection of who I am. Who I am is the reality while what I do is the reflection.

Friday, November 05, 2004

Well, Caleb is now 5 months old, and he has been sleeping through the night for just about three months now. However, this has not always been the case. It seems like not so long ago that Caleb would wake up numerous times in the middle of the night or at unscheduled times during the day. You may be thinking, “what is so wrong with that?” Well, his awake times were not pleasant because much of it was spent bouncing back and forth between crying and screaming. There were very few of the nice little serene “baby moments” that you often think of. Kristi (the best mother in the world) and I (the most clueless father ever) spent our time passing him to one another so that we could endure the screaming. You may also be thinking, “Why didn’t you just let him sleep when he wanted?” Here’s why: it was not the right time for him to sleep. We needed to teach him when it was appropriate to rest and when it was appropriate to be awake. He’s an infant he can’t just do it. He had to be taught, and since we are his parents, the responsibility fell on us. We lovingly accepted that responsibility.

You see, that is what a parent does for a child...teaches them how to rest.

That is what our Father must teach us as well.

“The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not be in want.
He makes me lie down in green pastures...” (Psalm 23:1)

Have you ever thought through this passage? Look at what it says here. What is “me” (the sheep) doing? What is the pasture like?

The sheep (me) is lying down. Okay, Captain Obvious, no big deal... But it isn’t the fact that the sheep is lying down it is the fact that he is lying down in green grass! He is not eating. He is not grazing. He is not moving. He is resting.

Why? The LORD is his Shepherd. He is completely comfortable in His presence. Sheep are fearful animals, and they do not easily lie down. However, because of the presence of the Shepherd, he can lie down. In fact it is this confidence in the Shepherd not himself that makes the sheep lie down. Who makes the sheep lie down? Not the sheep...the Shepherd. The sheep is not afraid!

Not only is he not afraid, but he is completely satisfied. The sheep is not in want. All of the sheep’s needs have been met, and now he can comfortably rest in the presence of his Great Shepherd. The sheep can rest assured that his Shepherd is in charge of his provision.

We all must learn to rest. It is not an easy transition because we are grazers. Like Caleb, we spend much of our time kicking and screaming because we have not learned when and how to rest. Maybe it is because of our lack of trust in our Shepherd? I know that is the case for me. So, I need the LORD...my Father...my Shepherd to continue to teach me how and when to rest.

LORD, make me lie down.