Flourish

Saturday in the Third Week of Lent

Lord, you have been our refuge
From one generation to another.
Before the mountains were brought forth,
or the land and the earth were born
from age to age you are God.
Psalm 90:1-2

The tree definitely looks smaller. The man from the nursery came and trimmed all the dead branches off of the red maple in front of our house. It has been needing to be cut back for a couple of years now, but I always seem to miss the window in the early spring when this type of work is best. Now it looks both shorn and healthier, its red buds already evident. I hope it flourishes.

I do not know how old the tree is; it was here when we bought the house 17 years ago.  I don't know how many seasons it has seen, or where it is in its life span. My children have gown up with its presence and I suppose there were children in the house before us and perhaps children who will come after us who will also marvel at its yearly transformation from buds to flowers to leafy green to magnificent fall foliage.

Its lifespan in God's economy is both a blink and an abundance. With its life expectancy of about a hundred years, it occupies such a tiny blip along the timeline of creation. Yet God has adorned this small bit of life with an astonishing range of beauty.

This is the outrageous generosity of God, who loves creation into being and calls all of us to flourish from generation to generation: trees, children, middle-aged women, earthworms, orchids, old men, sparrows, sea creatures, wild beasts, and more. And all.