A while back my husband was gifted a beautiful potted Olive tree. Our last name, Oliveira, means Olive tree, and it was a sweet gift. We placed it in a corner where we can enjoy it and it receives water and sunshine every day. Around spring time it usually has a few olives on its branches which the birds around here enjoy. It is a lovely little Olive tree.
Last October we went to visit a farm in the Kula area of Maui and they have beautiful and strong Olive trees all along the fences of their property. They are all in the ground and not in pots like our little one at home. They have large and strong trunks, several branches and lots of fruits. They are gorgeous trees.
Our little tree in the pot receives what it needs to survive and stay alive, but it is not thriving like the ones planted on the ground at the farm in Kula. The trees planted in the ground can grow their roots deeper and go after more nutrients and expand and bear much fruit.
Even though we may receive what we need to survive, if we don’t leave behind our bonds and conditionings, we will be like the potted Olive tree. It is doing ok, but there is so much more it could become if it was rooted in a nurturing ground.
If we compare ourselves to these two different Olive trees we may see that our limitations in how we think and our fears are like the pot. If we can bring our Spirits to trust God and receive His love afresh it will be like stepping out of the pot and growing our roots deeper and maturing and becoming fruitful.
I want to be like the trees in the ground, boldly believing in the promises of God and rooted in His abounding love. No more hindrances! Let’s receive afresh the gift of faith and trust in God and dare to leave our conditionings and past hurts behind and grow in the Father’s love for us. Step out of your pot! Put your roots in firm ground, dare to leave the past behind and grow and mature in Christ.
I would like to end with Psalms 1:3 for us to meditate on.
God bless us all.
“And he will be like a tree firmly planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither; and in whatever he does, he prospers.” Psalms 1:3