The Old Walnut Tree
By Pastor Brian Albert
At my grandparent’s farm stands a majestic walnut tree; one of the largest I have ever seen. My grandparents purchased the farm in the early 1900’s and when they did they had few things on the place, but that walnut tree was one of them. The tree was adjacent to the house, next to the cellar. This walnut tree has withstood many things through the years. Woodpeckers, blue jays, sparrows, robins, and others have all used the tree as a safe haven for a home, although it didn’t seem to mind. The tree has also had to endure some rough elements: blistering rain, violent storms, powerful winds, numbing snows, scorching sun, yet when I go back to the farm, there stands the walnut tree as majestic as ever. It has been the shelter of shade that my grandparents would sit under in the noonday heat. It would be the “air-conditioner” in those humid, summer nights as my grandparents would sit there until dark, staring at the road, and talk about nothing in particular. I remember my father telling once he never wanted that tree cut down. I guess there was not too many trees like that one. That walnut tree was faithful in that every year it would bear seed, and all the walnuts would fall to the ground making it a menace for anyone who would mow the lawn.
The years have taken their toll on the faithful tree. Branches would get brittle, crack, and fall to the ground. The worst moment was when the house that my grandparents lived in burnt down, and scorched half of that tree. No one thought it would survive such a calamity, but even though the scars of that time remain on it, the tree still lives and bears seed. The reason for this is that the tree has strong roots. There is an old well just parallel to the walnut tree where it gets nourishment. There it has been faithful year after year, maybe someday I can tell my kids about that walnut tree, and the many fond memories and reminiscent nights we spent around her.
The faithful walnut tree recalls to my mind another tree of long past. It is the tree that David talks about in as he compares the righteous man to it when he says in verses 1-4, How blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked. Nor stand in the path of sinners, nor sit in the seat of scoffers! But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in His law he meditates day and night. And he will be like a tree firmly planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in due season. And its leaf does not wither; and whatever he does, he prospers. The righteous man is compared in those verses to a tree that may have people take refuge in him as shelter. He might have to withstand the elements of this life: blistering attacks from the enemy, violent storms trying his faith, powerful winds of pressure trying to sway him one way or another, numbing indifference from the world, scorching sin tempting him, yet the righteous man stands there in the end, majestic by the grace of God. He can be a shelter of hope for weary pilgrims who sit under his faith in safety and watch the road of life from a distance. And this righteous man’s faithfulness is seen because he yields his fruit in due season, though it may irritate many who attempt to run over his abundant fruit as it falls into many lives.
This does not deny the fact that the righteous man is human. He has all the scars and mortal fragility that plagues the flesh like anyone else. But as he matures this brittle, weak condition will gradually fall away, and he will grow stronger and more majestic through the years. The source of this righteous man is also the root; he will be like a tree firmly planted by water. I hope someday I cannot only tell my children about this faithful tree, but my prayer is that they can see it for themselves in me. When I think of this tree in , I echo my father’s comments, whatever you do, don’t cut it down! There are few of them around as it is.
Pursuing godliness with you,The
Pastor Brian