Arbor Day

Arbor Day

Every year, we get a letter in the mail from the Arbor Day Foundation, an organization committed to the importance of trees, offering 10 pine tree seedlings for $1. Most years those letters find their way into the garbage but about a year and a half ago, we took them up on their offer. A few weeks later we received 10 seedlings, about 4 inches tall each, which we planted in our garden. I checked them about an hour ago, knowing I was going to write this, to see how much they had grown. Well, 5 have survived and are now 8" tall, not all that encouraging, to say the least. We would probably give up on those little pine trees except for one very important thing: we did this once before.

It was 1980, in Penfield, New York, when we planted 10 very small 4" pine trees in our garden, just like the recent ones. By early 1984, they had grown to almost a foot and we transplanted them along the property line. After moving here to Michigan later in '84, we didn't see those trees for quite a few years but on a recent trip back home, we took a drive by our old home. If you haven't guessed already, those 4-inch seedlings are now beautiful 20-foot tall pine trees.

Seeing the growth of those trees that we had planted over 20 years earlier has taught me an important lesson about growth and about patience. Early growth, both in people and in nature, is slow as God lays a strong foundation that he can build upon. Job 8:7 says "though your beginning was small, yet your latter end will greatly increase". And Zechariah 4:10 reminds us not to despise the day of small things.

If you've been frustrated with your personal growth and the pace of change in certain areas of your life, take heart. Growth in the beginning is always slow as God lays a foundation that will stand up to the storms of life, a foundation that will bear the weight of all He has planned for your future and of all that He has promised for your life.

God Bless,
Pastor Joe
Gateway Church