Convo with Pastor - Psalm 1:3 - UNDERSTANDING GIFTS OF THE SPIRIT

They are like trees planted by streams of water,

which yield their fruit in its season,

and their leaves do not wither.

In all that they do, they prosper.

Psalm 1:3

Spiritual gifts first began to make sense to me when I heard a pastor tell a story about a tree.

This pastor had a favorite kind of tree. It reminded him of his childhood. So he bought on from a nursery and planted in beside his house.

It died.

The next spring he bought a new tree, same variety, and planted it in about the same spot. It withered and faded too.

Then a neighbor came over and said, "Why do you have a _____ tree in the shade? These trees need sun." So the pastor took the tree and planted it in the sun and it thrived.

He said, spiritual gifts are like this. God has created us for a place in his service, but people get discouraged because they've been planted in the wrong place.

Tomorrow we'll talk about how to discover your true gift, but if you find that you've been planted in the wrong place, don't be a victim, lamenting your spot or lack thereof, pick yourself up by your own roots and try something new. Indeed, keep planting and replanting yourself by streams of living water.

In Christ's Love,

a pecan tree

(tall, productive, and a bit of a nut)

----------------------------

Traveling around the midwest, you can always tell where there is water. You are driving for miles and miles and there is nothing but farmland. It is a combination of low rolling hills, jagged buttes and canyons, flat prairie, wheat fields, cow pastures and small towns.  One thing that is a given - when you see trees, you know there is water nearby. 

Maybe it's not planting yourself, but patiently waiting for roots to grow as you drink deeply of the living water.