March 15, 2020
Jesus gave them this answer: “Very truly I tell you, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does. For the Father loves the Son and shows him all he does. Yes, and he will show him even greater works than these, so that you will be amazed. John 5:19-20
One of the joys of living in Central Texas is that there is something in bloom every month of the year. During the winter I make an effort to look for things that bloom in February and March as signs that spring is coming. Some of the early bloomers are trees and plants that I only notice when they are in bloom. The rest of the year they just blend into the landscape. I eagerly look forward to seeing and celebrating the goodness of God in creation as I spot the first flowering quince bush, red bud tree, various wildflowers and wisteria bushes.
We have three red bud trees that are planted underneath the branches of an enormous red oak tree in the front yard of our home. It saddened me last summer when I realized that one of the red bud trees was dying due to damage from sort of boring insects. In hope that it might recover I waited till this last week before I finally decided to cut it down. I no longer have much need for a chain saw and since the tree was not large I decided to cut it down with only a hand tree saw rather than borrowing a chain saw.
You may be wondering what all this has to do with the scripture at the beginning of this note. Growing up, I worked with my father at whatever he was doing and learned a lot from him about how to do basic tasks in everyday life. This included trimming and removing trees. I do not remember knowing anyone who owned a chain saw but Daddy had a two man cross cut hand saw and a variety of other wood cutting saws, axes, grubbing hoes, etc. He taught me how to use them as we would persevere through the sometimes hard work of removing a tree. Memories came back to me of working with Daddy as I began to remove the braches from the tree and eventually tackling the final task of cutting the trunk flush with the ground with the pruning saw. His efforts of teaching me as a child were still bearing fruit in me, his son, many years after he passed from this life. It is the same with God our Father. He delights in showing us what he is doing and desires for us to join with him in his work as he teaches us how to accomplish whatever task is before us. He is a good father and he takes delight in his children. May you rest in his loving-kindness, goodness and provision for you today.
Blessings,
Kevin