I was taking a beautiful prayer walk this morning with God and came across two blossoming pear trees. The warm weather had produced an abundance of flowers on these trees. One of the trees stood tall; it had been planted many years ago. As I drew closer to it, I noticed that the trunk was warped and it had lost a branch or two during storms that have passed by for many years. The branches spread out long and tall and the strong roots were punching through the ground, straining for more space and sunlight. I pinched off one of the blossoms from this aged tree and looked closely at it. It was filled with such amazing beauty and glory. Only God can make something so lovely. It was delicate, yet had a strong branch still attached to it. It had a sweet, but not overpowering aroma.

I held onto this little flower and continued on my walk. I then came across another flowering pear tree, but this one was different. It was just planted last year because a storm had destroyed a previous one. As I walked closer to this one, I noticed a few new things. It was still being propped up with support strings and stakes embedded in the ground, and the trunk of the tree was smooth and not scarred. It also had a protective layer of fertilizer piled over the roots where they started to grow into the ground as a way of protecting the tenderness and the vulnerability of this young life. And, although there were only a few branches on this flowering tree, it too reached high to the heavens and produced the exact same flower that the older and greater tree did.

I gloried in looking at these trees and realized that we, as Christians, resemble these trees so much. Some of us are matured Christians, weathered by storms and have had our share of branches torn away. But our roots are strong and we are able to withstand each season God places in our path, producing amazing fruit (or in this case, beautiful blossoms) each day. And, as these strong Christian “trees”, we need to come alongside the young, tender new trees and help them to grow in the Lord. We can be there to support them in prayer, teaching, guiding and offering friendship, just like the stakes & string I saw today. We can help feed them with the goodness of the Word of God and the love of Christ, just as the fertilizer was helping the young budding tree I saw. And, we can encourage them to seek the sunlight and to let this light produce a greater faithfulness in our Lord.

But the greatest reminder of God’s mercy and grace that I witnessed this morning, was the fact that each tree’s flowers looked exactly alike not more beautiful than each other, not larger or greater than one the other, nor with a sweeter aroma than the other. This is God’s plan for us. Whether we are mature in Christ or new baby Christians, we need to stand together and encourage each other daily to grow, mature, learn, seek and, of course, to BLOSSOM!

These trees reminded me of Lamentations 3:22: “Because of the LORD’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.”

Be blessed today and look around you for a young “tree” to come beside and to nurture. God loves each of us and we can delight in knowing that!

Diane Check calvarycheck@comcast.net