A Tale of Two Trees

My little crawler squishes her toes in the lush green grass in the center of four baseball diamonds. I can see three of my children playing Rookie Ball, Long Ball, and Fast Ball, respectively, each on a different field. She points to a plane overhead. “Birrr”, she says, meaning “bird”. She looks down and spies a bumblebee flitting from one wildflower to another. Delighted, she takes off on all fours in pursuit of the bee. I let her get close, then at the last minute jump off my chair to rescue her from her own curiosity.

In His image God made us, and our feelings, attitudes, and actions toward our children imperfectly mirror those He has for us. He lays down rules to help us live fruitful lives – then hopes for our sakes that we will follow them. He sought to protect us from ourselves when he forbade Adam and Eve the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil.

But the choice was always ours. By creating us with free will, He showed us that He is a God of Undying Hopefulness. The odds of our sinning are against us – St. Paul seemed especially pessimistic on this point – but He wants us to choose the Good , just as we hope for our children.

“Happy those who do not follow the counsel of the wicked,
Nor go the way of sinners,
Nor sit in company with scoffers.
Rather, the law of the Lord is their joy;
God’s law they study day and night.
They are like a tree
Planted near streams of water,
That yields its fruit in season;
Its leaves never wither;
Whatever they do prospers.”

Psalm 1:1-3

Pictured:
"Early Morning at Cold Spring"
Asher B. Durand, 1850