Acorns have been on my mind a lot this fall. It all started when I was pruning some shrubs under a tall white oak tree, and thwack! I was hit on the head by a falling acorn—it was really painful! So many have fallen from this tree that we found it necessary to gather up the countless number that had come to rest in the grass. This menial task turned out to be quite relaxing, so I kicked back and took a closer look. The acorns were lying about with all the appearance of doing nothing. Having lost their shiny green gloss, they had turned a nice nut brown. Their caps had fallen off. Some were smushed, some discolored, and some were falling apart.
But as I picked them up, I saw marvelous things were happening.
The acorns testified to a truth I needed in that moment about rest.
When attached up in the tree’s crown, they were richly fed and loaded with carbohydrates, fats, and protein. They weathered the heat and some powerful storms for an assigned season; in this abiding, the acorns had been filled with all they needed.
Now on the ground, they’re doing their great work, feeding wildlife and putting down roots to produce mighty oaks. From a place of rest, being the fullest expression of themselves, they do the work that’s been prepared for them.
“Lord fill me up! Make me bloom to your glory! Let me rest in You and how you’ve created me to be uniquely fruitful.”
Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me (John 15:4).