Your Mighty Oak

I love trees!  All of them: The vast, tall ones that tower over us; the short, squatty ones that seem to fuse into the others on each side; even the annoying ones that leave dry, ugly, brown needles everywhere we don’t want them to be.  Probably one of my favorites, though, is the oak tree.  Known for its permanence and robustness, there are more than 450 different species of oaks.  Their deeply lobed, distinctive leaves offer a broad canopy, perfect for resting underneath with a good book or family picnic.  They’re well-known for their stately size, with some of the largest reaching over one hundred feet tall.  When we admire their splendor, rarely do we pause to consider their small, humble beginnings—the acorn.

With its oblong form and knotty top, all acorns contain at least one or two oak seeds, providing them with a safe haven and place to transform.  It’s actually pretty amazing how that tiny shell with its rigid, nubby hat can evolve into a massive, sturdy, oak tree.  In order for that to happen, though, a breakdown must first occur.  The acorn will break apart, fragment, and crumble to give way for the new, vibrant, green sprout to emerge.  In essence, the acorn must die to self for the new life to begin.  We are that acorn!

2 Corinthians 5:17 (CSB) reads that, “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has passed away.”  Death to self doesn’t mean that we no longer exist, but rather it simply conveys a separation.  We consistently and daily turn away and separate from our old self, which allows the new us that is in Christ to emerge.  We surrender to Him and follow Him with all that we are, even in the midst of trials and challenges that we don’t understand.  Despite the hardships and unfair persecution that Paul faced, he still sought and focused on the end result of serving and following Jesus’s commands to share the gospel.  He clearly understood the mighty oak within him.

We’ve all endured our own Paul moments when we couldn’t understand the why.  Why would God allow this?  Why is this happening to me?  Those times in our lives when we’re breaking apart, fragmented, and crumbling—just like that acorn.  It is during those moments God is preparing his Holy Spirit to erupt as that mighty oak within us.  He is equipping us with awareness, insight, and understanding that will help someone else through their trial.  He is building in us a background, a past life that will inspire others to realize their oak is yet to come.  He is growing in us a depth of empathy, compassion, and warmheartedness to pave the way for someone else’s transformational journey.

The next time you feel exhausted from life’s struggles, downhearted that things aren’t exactly as you’d anticipated, or find yourself asking why, be encouraged that none of it is without purpose or reason.  We carry the Holy Spirit—that new, vibrant, green sprout—within us.  Our trials and challenges are solely the necessary breakdown of our outer acorn so that His strength, power, and love can emerge.  Hold tight to the truth your acorn is merely the fundamental beginning to make way for your mighty oak.