Of all the things a man may see, few are as beautiful as a tree.  It is an astonishing creation.

First of all there is the seed.  A seed of a birch tree contains the program to grow a birch tree, an acorn contains the program to grow an oak, a beech nut to grow a beech, etc.  Unless a seed falls into the ground and “dies” it remains dormant, dead and lifeless.  Such a contradiction, a seed must die to create life.  A seed is a self replicating programmed machine that has a battery (or inbuilt food supply), sensors and two separate growth mechanisms.

The sensors detect the conditions around the seed and when the soil conditions are exactly right (heat, humidity and possibly substance) it starts its self destruct sequence.  The root contains sensors to detect gravity and it uses the food supply to grow downwards.  The shoot contains sensors to detect light and it uses the food supply to grow upwards.  Once the root detects water it moves towards it and starts passing it and muck/ minerals up to the shoot.  The shoot begins to collect sunshine and carbon dioxide combines it with the water and muck and starts to make a tree.  It then no longer needs the battery but has its own power supply which it uses for the rest of its life.  The seed has done its job then and is no longer required.

Jesus said that His word is like a seed (Mark 4, etc.) and like a seed, if it is planted into the right conditions in our heart it produces a shoot.  As we continue to feed the shoot it produces a plant and perhaps a tree of life to others as they begin to eat the fruit of our feeding off that word within us.

God wants to recreate the Garden of Eden in the midst of our souls with the tree of His life in its centre.  Our souls are enormous and all types of things can grow there hidden away in corners or out in the open.  If we feed whatever is pure, whatever is noble, whatever is of good report in our lives and continuously work to remove the weeds of thoughts that so easily fly in from all sorts of angles then we become those who can bless others.

Jesus uses His word of life to make the muck and mess of our lives into something beautiful.