(This will be my last blog post until June 24th. We will be focusing on some family time and family events until then. I hope you will be enjoying the beginning of summer.)
Just before the birth of my sister and a few months before my fourth birthday, my parents bought their first house after renting the first several years of their marriage. My mother was raised on a farm that was bordered on one side by a significant creek. On my grandparent's side of the creek there were ten to twelve pecan trees that grew. They also had a very old and large pecan tree that grew in their yard near their house. They all seemed to enjoy the gathering of the pecans late in the fall. As for me, I enjoyed cracking the pecans and eating the ones I cracked.
By the time I was twelve or thirteen, my parents decided that what our backyard needed was a pecan tree. They envisioned a tree that would grow large and old like those on my grandparent's farm. Then they would be able to gather the ripened pecans in our own backyard. They bought a young pecan tree and planted it in their chosen spot. It was small but over the years it began to grow into a very nice pecan tree. The trunk increased in size; more branches developed; and it was filled with leaves that began to provide some much needed shade in our backyard.
Our pecan tree became everything my parents hoped it would be with one noted exception. It did not produce any pecans. Suggestions came from friends, relatives, and even the owner of the plant nursery where the tree had been purchased. "Water it; fertilize it; give it time." My parents did all of those things. When they sold the house 25 years after they had bought it, the tree was large and provided great shade for the backyard. However, it never produced pecans. Somewhere along the way, my parents gave up hope of having their tree produce pecans. Instead, they became contented with the beauty of the tree and the shade it produced.
It is hard to accept things in life that don't go the way we plan or at least the way we hoped they would go. We can easily become frustrated with the failure of our plan or give up trying altogether. These changes in our plans can happen in our jobs, our families, or our life circumstances.
I can recall two or three times when I was very interested in some churches I would like to have been called to as the pastor, but I was not. However, when I look back on my life and where I was privileged to serve, I can see that God's plan was far better than mine. In Proverbs 16:9 we are reminded that while we make plans, God may have different steps for us to take.
"The heart of man plans his way,
but the Lord establishes his steps."
While these changes to our plans may catch us off guard or even disappoint us for a period of time, we need to remember the words of Paul that he wrote in Philippians 4:11.
". . . for I have learned to be content in
whatever circumstances I am."
For Paul those circumstances greatly varied from being with good friends to being in prison. Yet in each situation, he looked for the Lord's leadership and could be content. In retrospect, a pecan tree that produced no pecans was a brief and easy disappointment in the course of life. But my parents found contentment in the beauty and shade produced by the tree.
Today, we might all take some time to consider if we have held on to a disappointment far too long or overreacted to a change in our plans. If so, maybe it is time to look for something in the situation that would bring contentment. You may not be able to find that on your own, but with God's help, you can.
What brings you contentment this week?
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