I spoke at a funeral a couple of days ago.
As I’ve mentioned before, if you conduct ten years worth of funerals in a moderately sized country town you’re going to need a largish range of things to say.
So, for someone who worked in forestry, here are some thoughts based on Psalm 1.
‘The Fruitful Tree’
You can’t help but notice the trees as you drive on the road between Nelson and Mount Gambier.
In the plantation pine forests we see life, stability, productivity.
Take a boat trip up the Glenelg river and observe the forests.
Dense foliage providing cover for that which grows underneath and a home for all sorts of fauna.
Psalm one describes a blessed man as being like a flourishing tree: stable, fruitful, enduring, a source of shelter.
We can look at such a life with thankfulness and appreciation.
Those who are the beneficiaries of such a blessed life can wonder if such a life of blessing could be for us.
Is being a person of stability, fruitfulness, encouragement and shelter reserved for just a few unique souls?
Psalm one exists to tell us that this blessedness is available to all.
What does that life of blessing look like?
Well, it is distinctive in the company it keeps.
Sometimes you’ll see a spot where the trees won’t grow. It may be just alongside the forest, but the limestone comes up to close to the surface or some other obstacle prevents growth.
Travelling along the river, there are small trees, hindered in their growth as they cling to the cliffs.
The Psalm characterises it with this progression in exposure to negative influence and thought: walking in, standing with, and sitting among.
Eventually you’re rooted in a situation where there’s no life.
And how can you show the fruitfulness of stability, shelter and productivity if your inputs are negative?
To know the life of blessing you’re in the habit of staying away from bad influence, it’s no accident.
But another form of stability is sought.
God’s wisdom does produce life and blessing.
God’s word is like a river, an underground aquifer, the rain that falls from above.
It produces fruit in the form of lives that give us love, wisdom and protection.
A life of blessedness is not a mystery.
God bids us listen to him as we read and learn from his word and the fruit of that is a blessed life, a life which is a blessing to others.
We can mourn the absence of a loved one, of their particular fruitfulness, but the source of that fruitfulness continues to be available.
Jesus adopts a similar metaphor when he speaks about himself as being the vine and those who trust him as being the engrafted branches.
I think he is consciously assuming that a relationship with him is the same as that life of blessing which flows to those who hear God’s word.
He doesn’t just promise life to those who emulate him, he promises life to those who know him.
Our best appreciation for a blessed and fruitful life is to seek out how we may be a similar blessing to others.
The key to becoming that blessing is to listen to God’s word and become a trusting friend of Jesus.
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