The Tree Whisperer

Welcome to today's encouragement from Our Daily Bread. Today's reading, titled The Tree Whisperer, was written by Patricia Rabin. Some call him the Tree Whisperer. Tony Renato is, in fact, World Vision Australia's tree maker. He's a missionary and agronomist engaged in a 30-year effort to share Jesus by combating deforestation across Africa's Sahel, south of the Sahara. Realizing stunted shrubs were actually dormant trees, Renato started pruning, tending, and watering them. His work inspired hundreds of thousands of farmers to save their failing farms by restoring nearby forests, reversing soil erosion.

Farmers in Niger, for example, have doubled their crops and their income, providing food for an additional 2.5 million people per year. In John 15, Jesus, the creator of agriculture, referred to similar farming tactics when he said, I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. Without the daily tending of God, our souls grow barren and dry. When we delight in his law, however, meditating on it day and night, Psalm 1 says we are like a tree planted by streams of water. Our leaves will not wither and whatever we do prospers. Pruned and planted in him, we're evergreen, revived, and thriving.

Today's Our Daily Bread devotional scripture reading is Psalm 1. Blessed is the one who does not walk in step with the wicked, or stand in the way that sinners take, or sit in the company of mockers, but whose delight is in the law of the Lord, and who meditates on his law day and night. That person is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season, and whose leaf does not wither.

Whatever they do prospers. Not so the wicked, they are like chaff that the wind blows away. Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous, for the Lord watches over the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked leads to destruction. Let's pray. God, we thank you for pruning us even when it hurts and causes pain because your word says that we will be even more fruitful. Help us to surrender to your will, to follow in your footsteps, and Lord, we will rejoice in the growth that you give us. It's in Jesus' name that we pray. Amen. Today's encouragement was provided by Our Daily Bread Ministries.