Lovely as a Tree

A favorite poem of mine from elementary school years was Joyce Kilmer's poem about trees.


I THINK that I shall never see
A poem lovely as a tree.

A tree whose hungry mouth is prest
Against the sweet earth's flowing breast;

A tree that looks at God all day,
And lifts her leafy arms to pray;

A tree that may in summer wear
A nest of robins in her hair;

Upon whose bosom snow has lain;
Who intimately lives with rain.

Poems are made by fools like me,
But only God can make a tree.

While living in the southern tip of Texas I came to appreciate the beautiful, lush trees of the North even more. The squat, straggly mesquite bushes that pass for trees in South Texas made the land look barren.

In Psalm 1:3 God pictures the believer as a tree. This tree is not like the ugly mesquite bushes but rather like the stately northern varieties. The key to the difference is that the "Christian tree" is planted "by the rivers of water" which is the source of nourishment. This is referring back to the second verse of the Psalm where the blessed one delights and meditates in the Word of God. The result is as exhilarating as the sight of a stand of beautiful maples or oaks.

The characteristics of this Word-produced tree are fruitfulness, consistency and prosperity. And the significance of the lives represented by this tree increases as it is compared with the nature of the ungodly who are like little pieces of chaff blown about by the wind. Simply by attaching ourself to the Word (living and written) we can become living, useful, productive trees rather than the useless chaff we are without God and his Word in our life. Have you become lovely as a tree? Accept the grace of God offered in Jesus through the Word of God and bloom like a tree.