A Shepherd’s Heart
The Best Day To Plant A Tree …
I was reading the book recently by Alvin Reid entitled, Sharing Jesus Without Freaking Out: Evangelism The Way You Were Born To Do It, and was challenged by a story he shared in his epilogue. “When is the best day to plant a tree?” I’d never thought about this until Fred, the owner of the orchard, asked me. The answer? Twenty years ago! “What’s the second-best day?” he followed. The answer? Today.
As Reid was challenged that day concerning the planting of trees, he understood more of Fred’s point. Basically, if you had planted the trees twenty years ago, you would be able to enjoy the shade now, but don’t let that stop you from planting trees today for you will reap the joy of the shade in the future. And if not you, then the generations that follow you will be able to sit under the shade of the trees you plant today.
This truth rings clearer to me today than in years past. Maybe it’s because I am getting older day by day and as I think back over my life, there are many “trees” I wish I planted years before. Maybe you have some of those same feelings of regret, but let’s not allow that to keep us from planting more “Trees” today for the future generations for the body of Christ known as Seminary Baptist Church.
As we have the privilege of seeing our faith become sight with the new facility, we are experiencing the shear joy that comes from the “trees” that have been planted in the past by many faithful members of this great church. The writer of Hebrews reminds us of the Heroes of the Faith, the “Tree Planters” of old. He then reminds us, “Lay aside every weight and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us.” (Heb. 12:1b)
This challenge serves as a call of urgency for us as followers of Christ to not put off until tomorrow what we can and must do while it is still called today. If we desire for the future generations to be able to find shelter under the shadow our Savior’s wings, we must be planting trees of the gospel today.
Oh how I pray that we will be faithful in living our lives as if we are daily on mission for Christ: Seizing opportunities to share with others the truth of the Gospel through His word and our testimony; Sacrificially giving of our time, our talents, and our resources to this work; Never ceasing to pray for God to anoint us with His power to accomplish the tasks for His glory alone!
In Christ,
Bro. Tim
