A thing so lovely as a tree

And out of the ground the LORD God made every tree grow that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. The tree of life was also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil…And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, "Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die." – Genesis 2v9,16,17

‘I think that I shall never see a thing so lovely as a tree…’ I think most of us can indentify with that sentiment. There is something special about a tree. As we walk Mary and I talk about trees ‘with character.’

One of those trees is in front of the estate where we live. We simply call it ‘The Big Tree.’ Our kids have grown up with memories of The Big Tree. ‘I’ll meet you at The Big Tree’ rang out through the years. We don’t hear much of that anymore, but The Big Tree is till there.

In the very beginning we find that man’s first dilemma involves trees. God put loads of beautiful trees in the garden. There were good to look at and their bore fruit that was good to eat. (Hmm, on a side thought, does that mean that all trees bore tasty fruit before the fall?) Amongst those trees were two special trees, the tree of life and the tree of knowledge of good and evil. One of these, the tree of life, obviously would do what is said – give life. The other tree is the tree of knowledge of good and evil. What was the result of eating the fruit of that tree? ‘The day you eat of it you will die.’

Two choices – life and death. It seems like the choice would be clear.

But, stay tuned.