Planted by Water

It’s been a while since I had anything to say about trees but I was particularly struck by these words of Jesus to some religious leaders:

A tree is identified by its fruit. Make a tree good, and its fruit will be good. Make a tree bad, and its fruit will be bad. You brood of snakes! How could evil men like you speak what is good and right? For whatever is in your heart determines what you say. A good person produces good words from a good heart, and an evil person produces evil words from an evil heart. And I tell you this, that you must give an account on judgment day of every idle word you speak. The words you say now reflect your fate then; either you will be justified by them or you will be condemned.  (Matt.12:33-37)

It hit me once again how important our words are. The first fruit from our tree is the words that we speak. But thank God that we can ‘make a tree good.’ By the grace of God and by filling our minds and hearts with God’s word we can fill our heart with good things.