Girls, Pizza & a Tree

Good evening, dear readers! I have had a wonderful evening... and I'm sure you all have had one as well. Tonight I departed from the text and had the discipleship group over to my apartment for our Wednesday night study. We had been meeting in the kitchen of the church building, but it was getting a bit crowded. There was simply "no room left in the inn," so to speak. Also, we have been running very short on time. After the baptism last Wednesday evening, we only had 20 minutes for our study, which just isn't enough time to really finish prayer requests and a prayer. So, I decided to invite them over for a full hour of study and for pizza. It was great.

The girls arrived at my house at 7:00, the pizza arrived at 7:30, we had 1/2 of the study completed before the pizza arrived and so we finished the rest of it while noshing away on our dinner and discussing what it means to "remain in the vine." (I seriously think it means that we should drink more wine, but I was out-voted! hehehe) Anyway, we had some good discussion, my cats were semi-well behaved, the Dove chocolate bars were VERY TASTY, and the company was terrific. We have decided that we are going to meet back over here next week and they will bring chinese food and I will bake some brownies. I told them if I start gaining weight then the food portion of the study is done! :)

Part of our study dealt with Psalms 1. I love that psalm. I memorized it about 10 years ago when I was in another ladies study and it has always had a special place in my heart. I love the mental pictures that come to me when I read it. "Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers. But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night. He is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers." There are more verses but I wanted to stop here.

I love the word picture of the righteous man being like a tree planted by streams of water. We were discussing this tonight as we sat in my apartment staring at all of the trees. The wind has been very strong today so all the branches were swaying and the leaves were twisting in the breeze. We discussed how the streams of water would nourish the tree and how the roots would grow down deep. Even when nature's storms would blow and beat against the tree, it remained strong. It yielded fruit. It did not wither. We went on to discuss how the righteous man is like this tree. What does it mean to be nourished, allowed to grow deep roots, does life beat against us, do we yield fruit, do we feel like we are withering?

The questions went on and on.

But still we come back to the righteous man is like a tree, planted by streams of water. It is such a comforting picture. I want to think of myself as firmly grounded with my roots deep in God's word. I want to be nourished by it. I want to bear the fruit of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. I want to prosper because of my obedience to God. I know that life will beat against me, I know bad things will rain down on me, but I will remain strong because my roots will be deep. My faith will be nourished from God's word, and I will keep on keeping on...... just like that tree.