For the last few weeks I’ve spent far more time with animals than I have with people. You can probably tell that based on the posts about woodpeckers, cattle egrets, cows, and dogs, and frogs. I think I’m in good company watching the animals and learning from them. Jesus used birds as sermon material, and the wise man Solomon instructed us to consider the ways of ants, badgers, locusts, lizards, lions, goats, and roosters. The latest lessons I’ve learned have been delivered via the tree rat, better known as a squirrel.
Most mornings I tend to focus on the plethora of birds swooping from tree to tree in their search for breakfast, but always busy in the background are the squirrels who aren't so much searching for food, as trying to remember where they put it. I say “trying to remember where they put it” because research shows that squirrels fail to recover as much as 74% of the acorns they bury for food. It ruins my day if I so much as drop a single French fry in the floorboard, but it’s ok if they don’t find all of the acorns they bury because those unclaimed acorns simply become oak tress which will produce food for future generations of squirrels.
An ancient Greek proverb says, “society grows great when old men plant trees whose shade they know they shall never sit in. When a man plants a tree he always expects to gain something from the tree in the form of fruits and shade. But when an old man plants a tree he knows well that he will not live see the plant grow up to bear fruits, or enjoy its shade, still he does it so that his future generation will be benefited by it. This unselfish behavior is a sign of the greatness of a society." Even as I read these words I can hear the lyrics from the song echoing in my mind, "Leave behind, yes leave behind, what will I leave behind, after I leave for worlds unknown, what will I leave behind?"
Tonight I was having a conversation with one of my oldest friends and we were commenting on how Jesus had a tendency to see the kingdom of God everywhere He looked. The Lord looked at a field ready to be harvested and saw souls who were receptive to the gospel (John 4:35). He watched as a sower spread seed in a field and thought of the things that would prevent or promote the planting of the word of God in the heart (Luke 8:5-15).
This morning, looking out my window, I saw some things that reminded me of the kingdom of God, and like the kingdom of God, they spoke of realities that seemed to contradict logic. The squirrels scurried from spot to spot in the front yard, digging holes as they went, in an effort to unearth their long lost lunch. If they fail, the acorn remains buried in the dirt, gradually cracks open and sprouts a taproot which buries itself deeper into the earth, while a seedling will painstakingly push through the soil and spend its life reaching for the sky. Something buried, lost, dying, forgotten, but also taking the first step toward a life that will far outlast the squirrel who buried it, and tower over the humans who are oblivious to it. But you don’t get the oak without burying the acorn.
Life in the kingdom is a lot like that. Things don’t always makes sense to us in the kingdom of God. Jesus explained that those who seek to save their lives will lose them (Matthew 16:25) and that it is better to give than to receive (Acts 20:35). He said rejoice when you are persecuted (Matthew 5:10-11) and the last shall be first (Matthew 20:16). When we find ourselves buried under the weight of our burdens, He invites us to come to Him and take on His yoke in order to find rest (Matthew 11:28-30). Our greatest growth is typically the byproduct of disappointment, pain, and loss. Paul knew this and it gave him the strength to let go of what was lost and push forward through what was ahead.
“Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Let those of us who are mature think this way, and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal that also to you. Only let us hold true to what we have attained” (Philippians 3:12-16).
If you find yourself buried under stress, worry, and fear, or feel like you’ve been forgotten and left alone, plant your roots deep and look up. “Take root downward and bear fruit upward” (Isaiah 37:31). A mighty oak is just an acorn that held on, and a mighty Christian is just one who remains steadfast, unmovable, and always abounding in the work of the Lord (1 Corinthians 15:58). You aren't being buried, you're being planted. Grow.
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