have a glorious vision for one corner of my yard.
It’s a fairly big spot and would have been perfect for a wide-spreading tree. Someone before us, however, put in an ornamental pear. It’s pretty when it has flowers in the spring, but otherwise, it’s pretty ordinary. And perhaps its most disappointing feature is that it isn’t big enough to fill the space. Over the four years that we’ve lived here, I have developed a vision: A grouping of three trees, with the ornamental pear in the middle.
Off to the left, I want to plant a Ruby Falls Redbud tree, a 3-4 metre weeping tree that has gorgeous purple flowers in the spring and red foliage the rest of the season.
The tree to the right would be a weeping evergreen of some kind. My husband and I had fallen in love with the weeping Nootka Cyprus; but anyone who is familiar with that tree knows it becomes huge at the bottom. It would have been a great “single” tree for the space, but with the ornamental pear already there, it would be too big. So the hunt for the perfect evergreen began. It had to be tall and stately, but no more than 1.5-2 metres wide. It needed to be a tree that would continue to grow upwards without needing to be staked, something that apparently most weeping evergreens require. And then one day we found it: The perfect tree, a weeping Jubilee Cyprus. It was just like its cousin that we had fallen in love with; but would only grow to be about 2 metres wide. As our search to date had been fruitless, we immediately bought the tree and brought it home.
Next came planting the tree, but as I stood back to admire this part of my glorious vision, I couldn’t help but be a little taken back… In my vision, the Cyprus towered above the existing ornamental pear. Reality… Well let’s say it looked kind of like a little dwarf twig that you barely noticed against its mature brother…
I wasn’t disappointed however. I knew my Cyprus Jubilee would grow, and with proper care it would one day surpass the pear tree and climb steadily and stately into the sky where it would provide the perfect balance to my grouping of three trees.
I have been in a bit of a spiritual struggle of late. I read verses like Ephesians 2:8-9: “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and this is not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not a result of works, so that no one may boast.” (NASB). This is beautiful and soo comforting when I look back at all the times I’ve failed to meet God’s standards.
How, then, can this wonderful verse be reconciled with verses such as these: “For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” (Ephesians 2:10 NIV). Some versions translate “handiwork” as “masterpiece”. Now I’ve been a Christian for over 25 years, but when I look at myself, I certainly don’t see any masterpiece. I know I’m created to do good works, but where is the fruit? On many days, I just don’t see it. And I’m not being hard on myself, because God doesn’t see the good works either!
And then there are the verses from 1 John 1: “God is Light, and in Him there is no darkness at all.If we say that we have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth“ (Vs. 5,6 NASB); and 1 John 2:3-6: “By this we know that we have come to know Him, if we keep His commandments.The one who says, ‘I have come to know Him,’ and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him; but whoever follows His word, in him the love of God has truly been perfected. By this we know that we are in Him: the one who says that he remains in Him ought, himself also, walk just as He walked.“ (NASB).
I know the answer to this dilemma, I’ve preached it for years, but I was at a low point in my life when I last read 1 John, and, well, let’s just say that my lack of fruit and my lack of ability to keep His commandments made me feel like I was “a liar” and the truth was not in me. I knew this was wrong, but I couldn’t come to terms with the fact that my life wasn’t reflecting Jesus, that I wasn’t walking as He walked.
Oh, I was trying, but it seemed that the harder I prayed for God to help me stay out of the devil’s traps, the more I fell into them. I prayed about this for several days. Was I really saved when my life didn’t reflect Jesus, no matter how hard I tried? On the one hand I knew I was, but on the other hand I couldn’t reconcile it all together. I asked God to please give me an illustration, a modern-day parable, that would help me to understand how these verses fit together. And He did. As I went out for my walk that morning, I looked over to admire my Cyprus Jubilee. That’s when God spoke to me…
You see, as I mentioned above, the Cyprus doesn’t look like much, it is far from the grandiose vision I had in my mind when I bought it; but somehow I couldn’t see this. Instead, all I saw was the towering, flowing branches reaching far above the ornamental pear into the sky. All I saw was what the tree would someday be.
Then it hit me: that’s how God sees me! He has a grandiose vision for me. I am truly His handiwork, His masterpiece. It doesn’t matter to Him that at the moment I am kind of like that Cyprus Jubilee… I am far from the vision He has for me. He knows that with the proper care, I will grow into His vision, His creation, made to do good works, made to walk as Jesus walked.
Now in order for my tree to grow, I have a few responsibilities, but so does the tree. I have to water the tree, stake it, and shield it from the brutal winds of winter for the first two years. After that, it will be strong enough to grow on its own. The tree, on the other hand, has to put out roots. It has to collect the water and nutrients. It has to become strong so that in two years, when the pampering is over, it will be strong enough to handle our fierce winds. When I stop pampering it, however, I know there will be a bit of a “shock” period for that tree as it learns to rely on its maturity rather than my pampering.
The book of Hebrews hints that there is a time for spiritual pampering; but that we should eventually arrive at the point where we are more spiritually mature: “For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you have need again for someone to teach you the elementary principles of the oracles of God, and you have come to need milk and not solid food. For everyone who partakes only of milk is not accustomed to the word of righteousness, for he is an infant.” (Hebrews 5:12-14 NASB).
In other words, we are just like that tree. For the first few years, God pampers us. He shields us from temptation, He gives us spiritual water and food, He provides us with the support we need. But during this time, our responsibility is to get into the Word of God and drink long droughts of Living Water. We are to spend time with God, learning of His love, learning to rely on His faithfulness. And when the time comes for Him to step back a little, we will be strong. But there will be a “shock” period as we learn to rely on Him, even when He isn’t so visibly pampering us.
I feel like I’m in that “shock” period of my life right now. The first major trials have come after He removed the stake and the wind breaks. Will those same storms rock me? Absolutely, and this is what I’ve been experiencing. Will the storms of life blow me over? Not if I’ve deeply rooted myself in Him.
So what do we do when we feel we are being overwhelmed with temptation and God isn’t helping us out? We need to press in to Him. We need to spend time in His presence, drinking from the Living Water, reading the Bible, claiming its promises as our own, etc. This will ensure that we grow into mature Christians.
I take great comfort in the fact that God sees me as His handiwork, even when I fail so often. However, I must remember my part of the deal: I need to dig in and draw closer to Him, no matter what!
In His love,
Lyn
Lynona Gordon Chaffart
Moderator, Associate Director, Answers2Prayer Ministries
