Green Growth

“Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord,
    whose trust is the Lord.
He is like a tree planted by water,
    that sends out its roots by the stream,
and does not fear when heat comes,
    for its leaves remain green,
and is not anxious in the year of drought,
    for it does not cease to bear fruit.”

            -Jeremiah 17:7-8 (ESV)

As I look out the window this morning, I see green all around. God has blessed us this year with abundant rain, and our fields and gardens, trees and lawns, are lush green and verdant.

When we reflect on God’s creation—the Book of Nature, as early Christians called it—we discover principles at work, both in the natural realm and the spiritual realm.

Greenness speaks of growth. The Lord created a world in which living things are meant to develop and flourish. Plants, animals and people—we are all designed to “green” and grow, to move toward maturity. God could have made a world in which everything was static, but instead he fashioned everything that draws breath to change and progress and come to fruition.

Seeing the greenness all around me in creation begs the questions: How am I growing right now? Am I maturing emotionally? Am I cultivating healthy relationships in my life? Am I green and growing spiritually, putting roots deep down in the Lord?

Sometimes growth is not immediately obvious. Some seasons of life are drought—hot, dry and difficult. But, as Jeremiah 17 notes, these are times when we put down our roots deeper into the Lord. Beneath the surface, we actively extend our roots into God’s living water.

In due time, then, fruit will begin to appear. The drought may still be going on—time of desolation, as Ignatius of Loyola calls it—but we do not need to be wither up. Instead, as we draw life from our Creator, we can growth stronger through the difficulties and go on bearing fruit in our lives!

2016 © Glenn E. Myers

This series is Creation Proclaiming God’s Divine Nature, as Romans 1:20 declares, “For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made.”