The Palm Tree

My favorite tree is a palm tree. I simply love their majestic height and clean lines. I especially like palm trees with long frongs that bend towards the ground and blow gracefully when caught in the wind.

A palm tree provides shade to all things that take shelter under it's frongs. However, because it is also quite sharp along the edges of it's shiny green frong, birds do not typically attempt to build nests or take shelter at the top.

The fruit of a palm tree is the berries or the nuts that it produces. Once ripened, they fall from the heights of the tree to the ground below. A palm tree requires watering, though it is also capable of withstanding drought and extreme heat. This tree flourishes in full sunlight & with little fertilizing.

Unlike so many trees, a palm tree does not lose its "leaves" as a sign of dormancy. It produces its fruit year round. When a frong has reached its lifespan it begins to turn brown then dies. The frongs, holding tightly to the trunk, require tiny insects to eat away at them to losen their grip before finally rotting and falling from the tree. This process can take months to occur, so typically a landscaper speeds the process by simply pruning them from the tree, enabling the tree to heal from the death of the frong.

As I think about it, I am a lot like a palm tree. I thrive in the heat (persecution) and full sunlight (communion with God), but I still need to be watered (the Word). I don't need a lot of fertilizing (heavy teaching) to bare much fruit year round.

A sure sign that I'm a palm tree (follower of Jesus) is that I extend myself into the world around me (missional) and provide a place for shelter under my wings (nurturing relationships). Yet my sharp frongs (knowing the Scriptures) protects me from the enemy. As I bare fruit and it ripens (new converts into disciples) they leave the protective safety of my frongs (empowering) and start new trees (more disciples and churches).

As with any plant, in order for the dead (sin areas in my life) to be removed, I need insects (trusted believers with whom I can confess) to assist in cutting the dead away from my body (confession). I also need a landscaper to remove it fully (Jesus). Only then may I continue to flourish (heal) in the sunlight and repeat the process (making disciples).

Have you ever seen a palm tree that is planted in the shade, not watered often enough and rarely been pruned? They are ugly trees! While visiting my sister in Miami, Florida we drove the long stretch of land from the southern tip of the mainland across the man-made bridges, sand bars, and man groves that lead through the Florida Keys. Along the way, the landscape is raw in nature and quite overgrown in some places. The palms trees are not maintained like they would be if they were growing in someones yard. Many of the trees have dead frongs drooping from them, look anemic, and are really unattractive. As a follower of Jesus, I don't want to be like those!

My challenge to each of us is to find 1 or 2 other people with whom we can share our life. Where we can spend time consuming large portions of Scripture. Where confession of sin is vital to our on-going growth and healing. Where we can together extend ourselves into the world around us and make disciples who make disciples.

Wouldn't it be awesome if we looked like that famous strip in Miami where the towering palm trees are firmly rooted and well maintained along each side of the road, stretching their frongs toward Heaven and reaching out all around them, while the Sun pours down on them as if to say, "You are beautiful. Well done."?

That's what the Church should look like! And I want to be like that!

Let's do it!