Trees of Life
“Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a desire fulfilled is a tree of life.” –Proverbs 13:12, ESV
Two days ago I woke up to a text from my mom with a link to a Mr. Roger’s Neighborhood clip from the early 90s. His field trip of the episode takes him to a dance company rehearsal where ballerinas, a husband and wife, perform with a live pianist. The wife, playing Ondine, solos for a few bars, with a long blue scarf playing the role of water.
As I watched, I wept.
Dancing… with water?
I knew… deep down… I had to dance with her. And more importantly, I have to keep on dancing with water.
To me, dancing with water means inhaling hope enough for tomorrow to exhale a creative expression today…. I replayed the recording and danced along.
For the last season, I have been living in a largely “hope deferred” perception of reality, and have been pressing into Jesus to believe for desires to be fulfilled, and to KEEP ON BELIEVING.
And it's so true that as Christ-followers, faith is our life-breath.
But in the last couple of weeks, during some thankfulness lessons, I believe that the Lord has been pressing me to recognize “Trees of Life” that fill the garden of my existence, now.
So easily can I see and name the dead little sprigs of crushed disappointments from desires, unfulfilled.
So now, I search for Trees of Life.
What desires fulfilled in full bloom, with strong trunks, and river touching roots, are already dropping fruit all around me?
I’m looking now.
Trees From the Word
Proverbs 13:12 states that, “...a desire fulfilled is a tree of life.” To me it feels natural to read it as “...my desires fulfilled are my trees of life.” However, it does not say that. It says, “a desire fulfilled.” Because of this, thankfully, I believe I can welcome big prosperous trees into the garden of my life that are other people’s desires fulfilled, and even God’s desires fulfilled.
Scripture is full of examples.
Jesus taught, “For truly, I say to you, many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it,” (Matthew 13:17, ESV). I live in a day righteous people from the past longed to see, and I get to live in the fulfillment of that desire! Many dreamed of Messiah coming to save Israel. I get to eat from the tree of that promise being already fulfilled. That’s a beautiful tree I can picture growing strong in my garden. It gives me courage and shade as I view my personal experiences of hopes, desires, and outcomes. In light of God’s complete and ultimate faithfulness to fulfill His Word, I see trees all around me. And there are so many.
Isaac was born. A lovely tree.
The slaves were freed from Egypt, a tree of rejoicing.
The Israelites crossed the Jordan into the Promised Land.
David became king.
Hannah became pregnant.
The Word of the Lord came to the prophets.
The drought ended.
Jezebel and Ahab were overthrown.
Elizabeth birthed John.
Jesus fulfilled the ultimate promise of salvation and destroyed sin, sickness, and death.
He healed and delivered everyone who came to him for healing.
The church exploded.
The Gospel is being preached to the ends of the earth.
TREES OF LIFE.
I’m a part of God’s story, and these trees are a part of God’s story, so I can see these trees as a verdant explosion of promises fulfilled in my garden.
Trees From My Past
Here I ask for God’s help to un-stick my brain and allow me to remember what things I’ve wanted in the past that I now have or have had.
Recovery from a painful and emotionally debilitating illness.
Completion of some difficult academic pursuits that at times I thought I could not do.
Renewed strength in weak places I thought would keep me from ever feeling myself again.
Restored courage to re-enter places and meet new faces.
The restoration of memories that remind me that I’m loved and accepted.
I made it to the Holy Land in 2023!!!
I heard God's direction for my next step in the upcoming season.
Truth is being established in places where lies once stuck like glue.
Trees of Life I Can Plant Today
There are some desires in my heart that will take God’s hand moving, miracles occurring, and mountains being thrown into the sea to become fulfilled… However, there are others I can plant through that exhale of creativity today. If I plant them and take action myself, with God’s help those little desires will be completed, and grow a beautiful new orchard. Some of these things include:
My desire to finish a poetry book I started forever ago.
Settling into my space by actually decorating it.
Releasing some sort of music recording (which will take courage beyond belief).
Being brave to see areas of life that once brought pain with a clean lens of hope that says, “this time… it could be different.”
Some of those dreams listed above are little and relatively easy to plant and grow. But they are desires I can do something about seeing get fulfilled. And by doing so, I could have more little trees in my garden, which I need.
My first seed into the soil…
My poetry book’s working title is rubbing me the wrong way, and I want to feel confident about seeing it. So, I picked a new name for it, which now speaks about courage to me, which will help me feel stronger about actually letting people read it.
Dancing With Water.
Desires
The desires in my heart often feel like little crushed seedlings of deferred hope and disappointments. However, in truth, a lot of these things just haven’t happened yet.
Hebrews 11:1 declares, “Now faith is the certainty of things hoped for, a proof of things not seen,” (NASB).
I guess that’s where my measure of faith must grow. Paul teaches in Romans 10:17 that, “So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ,” (ESV). I suppose that hearing through the Word of Christ should include the continued and deeper digging into the Holy Scriptures. However, Revelation 19:10 illuminates another important component of this journey, which is that “…the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy,” (ESV).
I believe that this truth also contains a key for growing faith in terms of desires. Easton’s Bible Dictionary says prophecy, “...has been defined as a ‘miracle of knowledge, a declaration or description or representation of something future, beyond the power of human sagacity to foresee, discern, or conjecture.’” Looking at testimony deeper we find what Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance defines as a, “witness, evidence, testimony, [or] reputation.”
What is the testimony, the “witness, evidence, testimony, or reputation,” given of Jesus all around me right now that is the spirit of prophecy, which we remember now is something “beyond the power of human sagacity (or understanding) to foresee, discern, or conjecture?”
How can existing evidence breathe hope into my heart’s desires that have not yet happened and seem beyond my power?
They can, because the person of Jesus is with me. He promised, “...I am with you always, to the very end of the age” (Matthew 28:20, ESV). I can let the presence of Jesus in my life and the testimony of His work in the lives of others be the power beyond me that is breathing hope and building faith inside me. As Paul taught in 2 Corinthians 1:20, “For all the promises of God find their Yes in him…” (ESV). I am determined to let His testimonies of faithfulness in the past fill my mind and to rest in that deep trust of His “Yes” because ultimately, Jesus always wins. And I’m with Him. And He’s with me. The ultimate dream, oneness with Christ, is ours… is mine (Romans 6:5). So, as the late musician and producer Mr. Don Potter once said, “We’ve already won.”
This way, the fact that there are still blank spaces in my garden does not need to dominate the perception of my life.
My garden, God is so mercifully showing, is more of a forest than an empty slash and burn plot.
And while I believe for Him to someday plant the seeds that will grow into the trees of today’s desires that sometimes feel impossible, I can rest in the shade of the Word’s many promises already come to pass, my community’s miraculous breakthroughs, and my own past’s fruit-bearing events. Afterall, “...nothing will be impossible with God,” (Luke 1:37, ESV). The testimony of what Jesus has done and is doing all the time will provide that life-giving power to destroy hopelessness as the evidence of the unseen grows on the inside. Thankfully, this is all while the lover of my soul waters and nurtures me, heals brokenheartedness, and restores the truth of his faithfulness in my life. His love in and of itself is the ultimate fulfilling tree I will spend the rest of my life climbing.
May God bless your garden.
May God open our eyes to see the promises fulfilled all round us. May God grant us the power through the Holy Spirit to let go of hopes deferred, and receive new, fresh hope. May we receive the strength that God is giving us right now to dance with water. May today be the day we step into a life of faith that exhales creativity that will serve our Lord, bless His people, and draw us into deeper union with the person of Christ, who is, the greatest lover, the greatest King, the greatest dream of all. And He is with me. And He is with you.
Emily Glasner
Emily is a senior content developer and editor with Hope House Press. She is a prolific singer/songwriter with a Masters in Global Development Practice from Harvard Extension School and a Bachelor’s in Biblical Literature from Oral Roberts University.