Different Shades of Green

     That morning back in June was so soft and gentle.  A quiet rain was falling, the birds were singing in the trees.  A squirrel jumped across the yard, looking for his breakfast.  There was an easiness about that morning, a slowness, a time to stop and relax.  Looking at the beautiful view from my back porch I saw so many shades of green.
     The trees on the mountain now were fully crowned with leaves.  Returning from the dormant state of winter, they had burst forth in bloom and transformed from barren, strong trunks with empty arms to these beautiful shades of green.  In it I see God's people, the church.
     We, His people, are like the trees.  We look alike, only different.  Just as He created each of us in His image, He has gifted each of us uniquely to accomplish the task of going, teaching, and making disciples.  First Corinthians 12: 4 - 7 says:  Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit, and there are varieties of service, but the same Lord; and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who empowers them all in everyone.  To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.
     Do you see the shades of green?  We each personally, individually, specifically, have a job to do.  Praise the Lord we are different!  As I get closer to the mountain I see more than faint shades of color.  The leaves are different.  The shapes of the trees vary.  Bark.  Limbs.  Size.  Closer and closer I get.  Some have sweet fruit.  Some bear nuts.  Others provide cool shade.  One tree towers above the others - so strong.  A smaller one is just breaking through the earth.
     After the tornado I walked the fenceline to see if there were trees down where the cows could get out.  Thankfullly there was only one small place.  However, I could see other places where trees had fallen.  Get this image in your mind.  A tree cannot fall without landing on something.  Whether it lands on a fence, or if it tears the limbs out of another tree on the way down, even if there is an open field around, there is grass below, bugs, that will be crushed.  Something will be touched when the tree falls. Usually it is a tree with a shallow root system or one that has been weakened by decay or disease that falls.
     Sometimes, though, a strong, stately tree will fall.  When it does we mourn its loss.  It will be harder to replace.  The question must be asked, "When I am gone from this earth will I be missed, mourned, hard to replace?"  I do not want to be like a tree with shallow roots, easily replaced when my time on earth is done.
     Why, then, do we try to change the color, shape, or size of our leaves?  Why do we spend so much of our lives trying to be just like someone else?  Why don't we spend our energy trying to become what we were created to be?  Looking at the mountain, it is the variety that lends its beauty.  There is an area of lighter, yellowish green on the lower left.  An are of darker, blacker green is toward the top of the mountain, and some blue-green shades are closer to the bottom.  Together it creates a beautiful picture.
     Romans 12:  4 - 6  For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function, so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another.  Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them. 
     Dear friend, find out what God has gifted you to do and do it. 


Vicki