It was the strangest thing. Yesterday brother Julian, who was in Cape Town for a couple of nights, and I walked around the block. As we arrived home, something caught my eye. How strange! What is that? We have a kind of willow tree that has been outside our property for longer than we have been in our house – we moved in in 1989 – so it’s more than 27 years old.
This is part of the tree close up…
As we walked past the tree, the thing that caught my eye was that suddenly there were other leaves on the tree and there were berries growing on them…
I stopped and followed the branches of the berry tree and found it deeply rooted into the trunk of the willow tree…this is close up…
And here you can see how it fits together…
The berry tree goes deep down into the trunk of the willow. It looks grafted in but probably what happen is a seed got into the trunk and started growing and now we have a tree within a tree. It’s the strangest thing!
It made me think of something that I recently read in the Bible. Originally, God’s people referred to the nation of Israel, but when Jesus came, He came for all – Jew and Gentile alike.
In Romans 11, Paul writes an explanation about how many of the Jewish nation have walked away from faith in God, but the door is wide open for others to believe. It is hoped that as we Christians have found salvation by being grafted into the original Root of God Himself, others will see that they are missing out and join. We don’t get boastful that others are out and we are in or our fruit is better than others. No, we remain humble. We grow because we are rooted in Christ.
Romans 11:17-18 (I’ve chosen the Good News version for its simplicity)
17 Some of the branches of the cultivated olive tree have been broken off, and a branch of a wild olive tree has been joined to it. You Gentiles are like that wild olive tree, and now you share the strong spiritual life of the Jews. 18 So then, you must not despise those who were broken off like branches. How can you be proud? You are just a branch; you don’t support the roots—the roots support you.
I’m grafted in. Every time I walk past the tree, I will remember my position in Christ. I like to think of myself as the berry tree. That tree can’t be pulled out. It could be pruned, but it’s deeply rooted into the trunk of the willow tree. It’s left to grow up and out and bear fruit, while remaining firmly embedded in the original tree that nurtures it and gives it life.
These are the days!
Keep the smile going.
God bless you!
In His Grip,
Helga xx 🙂