Doth not even Nature itself teach you
1 Corinthians 11:14
Thank you for dropping by, and I know you’ll be glad that you did. For you have a very Special Friend who has reserved a cabin - just for you, on the shores of a beautiful lake, filled with crystal clear blue water and dressed with a forest of many wonderful friends. He wants you to take a moment to relax from a busy day and enjoy a message from some of His children who are being witnesses for Him.
How often do we forget or just plain never take the time to look at all the beauty around us and how the Father would like to reveal to us hidden truths? Love, Truth and Beauty are all around us. A Loving Father tries to reach us all through the nature of things which He has created. When we are filled with the Spirit and are looking through Spiritual Eyes, as little children, we become childlike in our approach to the things around us. Then we begin to see truths revealed throughout all of creation for us to enjoy and live by. The story you are about to read contains the Love of a Father, as seen through Spiritual Eyes and the many truths by which we all should live by. So let your eyes be open to discovering truth behind a simple source.
Monarch
Close to the shore of a beautiful lake, away back in the mountains of Maine, there grew a very wonderful pine tree. Its branches reached far and wide, as if trying to drink in more and more of the clear air and bright sunshine. Its top reached up into the sky, as if trying to see what was beyond the fleecy clouds that floated above it. Its trunk was straight and strong, as it had need to be when the cold, northwest winds of winter blew down the lake. The great pine tree was much admired by the people who lived in the cottages close by, and they had given it a name, Monarch.
One day Monarch felt someone digging at its roots, and looking down, it saw a little spruce tree being planted there. Then the great pine tree rustled in all its branches for joy. It had been lonely living there alone for so many years; now there would be someone to talk to, and someone to help grow. Now the little spruce tree heard the rustling, so when its roots were set, it began to look about to see who its neighbors might be, and it discovered Monarch, the great pine.
"Oh! Oh!" said the little tree, "What a big, big tree! How I should like to be as tall as that pine tree! How much it must see away up there in the sky! I am glad that I am planted close to such a wonderful tree. Perhaps I can grow to be like it, if I try."
That very night, when all was still, the little tree heard a whisper stealing down on the soft, night air. And the voice said, "Little tree. Little tree."
"Yes, dear, big pine," answered the spruce tree. "I am listening to you."
"Little spruce tree," continued the pine, "I am glad that you have come to live near me. You are a pretty little tree, and all the dear children will love you when they come to play in their crow's nest, away up here in my branches. Can I help you in any way?"
"Yes, indeed, you can," replied the spruce. "I have been looking at you for ever so long. What a wonderful tree you are! Tell me, please, how to grow as tall and straight and strong as you."
"That is not a hard thing to tell, but it is a very hard thing to do," murmured the pine. "If you want to grow tall and straight and strong, you must keep looking upward every day, and let nothing bend or break you. You must desire with all your might to become one of the best trees, and then you must grow and grow and grow."
"That I will do," promised the spruce. "I will keep close to you, and every day I will try to grow to be just like you, for I want to be tall and straight and strong."
The days passed by, and every night the little spruce looked carefully to make sure that her trunk was as straight as the trunk of the pine. Since she had a perfect tree to copy, she grew straight and strong, of course. When the winter came, and the strong winds from the north whistled through the needles of the spruce tree, the pine was just in front of her, and saved her from the force of the wind. At night, when the wind had gone down and all was still again, the big friend would whisper.
"That was a hard breeze, little one, but it is over now, and you have gained strength by fighting it... Now look up and straighten up so that all the bend will be taken out of you. Measure your trunk by mine, if you like." The little tree would try its best, and then, looking up, would thank the Heavenly Father for its good friend and helper.
Finally, after many years, the little tree had grown so tall that her top just reached the lower branches of the pine. How proud she was then as some of needles actually touched those of the giant tree! She nestled close to the big limb and whispered: "Oh, dear Monarch, I have so loved to see you away up here. But now that I can touch you and feel your big strong arms, I don't care whether I grow any more or not."
"Tut, tut, little friend of mine," chided the pine tree. "If I had stayed as small as you are now, you would never have been proud to have lived by me and to have called me friend. Surely no one would ever have called me by the beautiful name that the folks who live in the cottage use when they speak of me - Monarch. Indeed, you must not stop growing. I can see much farther than you can. I can breathe much better as I grow higher up... Then, too, I am nearer to the Great and Loving Father when I am doing my best to grow."
"But you get more of the wind and cold up there," said the spruce tree. "Down here I am sheltered by you."
"That may be," replied the giant pine, "But you cannot give shelter, nor be an example, if you are content to stay down there. Come up, child! Come up."
So the little spruce took courage and pushed ahead until her branches were mingled with those of the pine... Now they could talk together of the beautiful things that they could see around the mountain lake. Then, to her surprise, she found that the pine was still growing - still making sure that she, too, did not bend.
"Aren't you ever going to stop growing?" asked the spruce. "Surely you are big enough now."
But Monarch made answer, "I shall never be big enough, no matter how high I grow to be. I have heard of pine trees that were much taller and larger than I, so I must keep on growing. I must grow for your sake, if for no other reason."
Then the spruce loved her old friend all the more, and in her heart she resolved again to keep growing every day, to let nothing bend or break her.
One day, very early in the spring, when the snow was just leaving the ground, the spruce tree was looking down and was thinking of the days when she had been a tiny tree... Suddenly she saw a seedling balsam nestling close to her trunk, and she heard the balsam whisper to the arbutus blossoms on the ground: "Do you see that big spruce tree away up there? Some day I am going to be tall and straight and strong, just like that spruce tree. You just watch me grow, year by year, until my top reaches those lower branches."
"Well, well!" said the spruce. "Here I am pushing ahead to be like the pine, and the little balsam is trying to be like me. I must grow to be very straight and strong if I am to be an example to that little tree. I cannot stop growing, either, for the balsam will be watching me. The old tree told the truth. I, too, am an example."
So the pine helped the spruce, and sheltered it from the blasts of winter; the spruce helped the balsam, and kept great drifts of snow from breaking it down; and the balsam spread its tiny branches over the arbutus plants and kept them warm, so that the children might have joy of finding blossoms there in the spring... And those who lived in the cottage looked at the four friends - the pine - the spruce - the balsam - the arbutus and they learned from them lessons of - strength, beauty, great courage, helpfulness and daily striving.
"We, too," they said, "must look upward every day, and let nothing bend or break us. We too, must measure our strength by One who is Greater and Stronger than we are. Each of us is an example to others."
What an awesome message! The Love of our Father and His Majestical Beauty in nature is all around us, sending message after message on how to live a better life with renewed courage and strength just as our friends, the trees, have revealed. Our friends in the cottage certainly received the message being given, by saying "We, too, must look upward every day, and let nothing bend or break us. We too, must measure our strength by One who is Greater and Stronger than we are. Each of us is an example to others." Did you receive this heart warming message?
At some time or another every one of you has probably walked along in some fine, big wooded forest of oak trees. There were the great trunks all about you, so large that two or three boys and girls together could not get their arms all the way around one; and up above were the long branches, with the leaves that made the deep, cool shade. You know that the oak is one of the very finest of all the trees that grow, and the wood from it is used in a great many sorts of works - which people want to be the very best.
The hardest floors are made of it. Furniture is made of it; pulpits in churches are made of it, and other beautiful things, such as tables, chairs, and cabinets of all sorts... And while you walked under the big oaks you looked at the ground and saw a great many little things like this. They were called acorns, you knew that out of just such little acorns - the tremendous great oak tree grows.
But, what I want you to think about today is this; it takes a long - long while for an acorn to grow up into a mighty oak. It will certainly make an oak if you give it time enough, but if you want to plant something that will sprout right up, to make a big appearance quickly - you just cannot have an oak.
Of course, there are some things that do grow quickly. Do you remember how a squash vine looks? You plant the seed, after a few weeks there is the big vine, trailing all over the ground and presently you have the yellow squashes on it. You can almost see them grow, but when they have grown they are only squashes after all. And if you wanted to build a house, you certainly would not want to build it out of soft, squashy squashes, and next week have it come squashing down.
Our Heavenly Father works with people, too, in much the same way, in which He works with squashes and oaks. And, if all you want to be is a squash you can grow into one very soon, and without much pain. But, if you want to be an oak, you must remember that your Father will have to take a long while to make you anything so big and fine.
Sometimes we wish we could hurry things along, getting to what we thought were more interesting things. When we were in school we had wished that we could finish school quickly and grow up. We want to get through our lessons, our work, just as quickly as we can; having all the rest of the time for play. This includes the young and old alike. We get tired of having to be made to learn so much, and to do so many things. Yet, it all begins to look different when we think of what we wanted to be and to those who are thinking of what they want to be. If we want to be like the great oaks, solid and strong; remember that the Father must take a great deal of time and pains with us. And, must keep on making us grow for a long, long time.
Yes, we are to always strive to become as perfect as Him. We must be willing to grow, reaching ever higher into the things of the Father. This is His will for us. Be like the pine tree, the spruce, the balsam, and the mighty oak, becoming straight and strong; so that when you are faced with the winter winds, you too, may stand strong; protecting the little one's also. Yes, there will be times when we are hit with strong winds, called tests and trials, and we’ll have to suffer to protect the little ones. Remember what Peter said:
Through the Word we become strong and learn to stand straight. Paul said:
"Study to show thyself approved unto Yahweh (God), a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the truth." Everyone of us needs to continually learn, to grow, and keep busy.
"He's as busy as a beaver." You have all heard people say that, and that remark has real meaning. Because the beaver is an intelligent, hard-working, ambitious animal... Will you believe that beavers have been known to build dams that are a thousand feet long? And in addition to building dams, each pair of beavers gathers food for winter and builds its own two-story home. So when someone says to you, "You're busy as a beaver," that's quite a compliment.
But do you know that our Creator has given the beaver a good reason for keeping busy? It isn't simply the need to gather food, or to build homes and dams, that keeps the beaver a busy animal.
The beaver cuts down trees with four sharp front teeth called incisors. With these chisellike teeth he can cut through trees as thick as two feet. But the strange thing about these teeth is that they never stop growing. When a beaver wears away his teeth by gnawing through wood, the teeth grow again. If a beaver stops using his chisellike teeth for very long they grow to such a length that he cannot even open and shut his mouth to eat. So, if a beaver doesn't work he doesn't eat.
And that applies to the young beavers too. For when a colony of beavers builds or repairs a dam, every beaver in the colony, young and old, works. Although occasionally a beaver may live alone, most beavers prefer to live in families or colonies. The beavers can teach us a thing or two, if we watch them closely.
The Apostle Paul thought that every Christian should work hard. When writing to the Thessalonians he said, "For even when we were with you, we gave you this command: If any one will not work, let him not eat" (2 Thess. 3:10). He knew that nothing great and good could be accomplished unless everyone did his share. He also wrote, in Ephesians 2:10, "For we are his workmanship, created for righteous works as Yahshua Messiah, which Yahweh previously ordained that we should walk in them." Are you a busy beaver?
Nature is always hard at work supplying us with many things, such as food. However, we do not feast on meat and potatoes, peaches and ice cream, but we feast on truth, mercy, beauty, and love. These feed our souls. Yahweh (God) provides us the bread of life through nature, His Son, and His Word. And we are to enjoy this feast above all, that gives strength to our souls and spirit.
(Matthew 5:48)
(1 Peter 2:21)
that you may grow thereby."
(1 Peter 2:2)
(1 Timothy 4:15)
(Hebrews 6:1)
but shall have the light of life"
(John 8:12).May Yahweh Bless You
