What can you tell about me?

This afternoon my husband and I walked through the greenbelts. I really think this is a first! I am a runner so I like getting out but he is not so a walk was a stretch. As we were walking, we saw many trees that have been cut down in the greenbelts as a result of the drought this summer. There were many on the ground and "stumps" of trees as reminders of what had been.

I stopped a moment and asked my husband "What can you tell about this tree?" Well...what can you tell? Dendrochonology is the science of counting tree rings to determine a tree's age and to identify extreme and unique environmental events.*

So I examined the tree stump to see if I could determine the tree's age. Because I am not an expert, I could not, but it did lead to a thought. First, you can not tell the tree's age by merely looking at the surface of the tree. You have to look at the inside of the tree. It has to be "cut" in order for you to be able to determine that.

The same is with us. You can not really know a person until you look into their heart. What you see may not be what you get. Ask youself what happens when we are "cut?" What comes out of the mouth when we get angry or upset, is the result of what is in the heart. What do we say of police officers when we get a ticket? How do we react when someone sits in "our chair" at church? What about the person who cuts in line after you have waited a while? What about our reaction when we were in that parking lot, we activated our signal light and patiently waited for the person to pull out of their spot only to have someone else zoom into it! Did we represent Christ?

While none of those scenarios are easy ones to accept, others will know who we are, what we are made of and who we represent by the reaction we display. When I look at heart, I need to ask "what can you tell about me?"

No good tree bears bad fruit, nor does a bad tree bear good fruit. Each tree is recognized by its own fruit. People do not pick figs from thornbushes, or grapes from briers. The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and the evil man brings things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For out of the overflow of his heart his mouth speaks. Luke 6:43-45

*Austin Tree Service