This pendant of the Tree of Life means to me a sign of healing, life and growth. It reminds me to speak LIFE. Words of Life. We can speak life or death. The choice is ours. We are free to choose but we are not free from the consequences and the fruit that our words bring forth.

I miss the boat on so many days. I hear the whisper of the Lord reminding me to reign in my thoughts. For my thoughts become my words very quickly. IT is a reminder to renew my mind in His word DAILY ~

My goals for 2015 are simple. It is not a long list. It is really a simple list that is so challenging. But I believe for any of us to grow we have to be challenged. My goal is to SPEAK LIFE TO my family, my friends, to strangers and most of all to myself. I can be so hard on myself.  So, I will wear this reminder around my neck. To remind me of so many verses of the Bible that speak about the Tree of Life.  There are so many scriptures in the Bible about trees.

In Isaiah 61:3 the Lord says he will bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oils of joy instead of mourning and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair. They will be called OAKS OF RIGHTEOUSNESS , a planting of the Lord for the display of HIS splendor.

How I pray that  my life is like a old southern oak tree, reflecting God’s splendor for 2015. To me , there are few things more beautiful and majestic than an old Southern Oak . I love walking through one of my favorites places in Fairhope, Alabama. It is the Grand Hotel. It has beautiful trees that are hundreds of years old. Their limbs are stretching out wide and some almost touch the ground. The scent of the salty water and shore is there. The winds from the water moves the leaves on the trees. It is magical. If the trees could talk. The stories they could tell us. The lessons that they could teach us. The storms and hurricanes that they have endured. But, they remain because their roots were deep and strong.  May we grow deep in HIM and let our lives be built on HIM. So our faith will grow stronger and our fruit will overflow to all those around us.

God’s word tells us in Jeremiah 17:7-8 -“But blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord,whose confidence is in him. They will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream.It does not fear when heat comes, its leaves are always green.It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit.”

With the end of 2014 and the anticipation of 2015  remember with every ending, there is a brand new beginning, for I know not what the future holds for 2015 but I know who holds the future. He is our rock. He is our strong foundation. Thankful this morning for my Father’s faithfulness.

Strong roots produce beautiful leaves and beautiful fruit ~

Scriptures on the Tree of Life ~

The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life, And he who is wise wins souls. Proverbs 11:30

Proverbs 15:4 – A wholesome tongue [is] a tree of life: but perverseness therein [is] a breach in the spirit.

Genesis 3:22-24 – And the LORD God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever: (Read More…)

Revelation 22:14 – Blessed [are] they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city.

Genesis 2:9 – And out of the ground made the LORD God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil.

Revelation 22:2 – In the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river, [was there] the tree of life, which bare twelve [manner of] fruits, [and] yielded her fruit every month: and the leaves of the tree [were] for the healing of the nations.