My Acorn Story

I have a little story to share with you. It amazes me how God chooses to speak to us sometimes. I believe I am most enthralled by the way he speaks through creation. We are surrounded by testimonies of His love, grace, mercy, and faithfulness through what He has created. Even the acorn tells a story. For me it is a story of expectant hope. Its a story of "against-all-odds-victory". Its a story of legacy.

Yesterday as I was leaving work and walking to my car, I noticed an acorn on the parking lot. I don't normally look around for things like that, but I feel like the Lord just kinda put it there. I picked it up and decided to take it home...again very uncharacteristic of me. At once I felt something stirring in my spirit about this acorn. I went home and googled "acorns". Somehow I thought I was going to uncover some amazing fact about acorns and I was going to have this "ah-ha" moment. I love those! I learned it can take an oak tree nearly 70-80 years to reach full acorn production. That is nearly the whole length of a human life. I also learned that only 1 in 10,000 acorns will actually become an oak tree. If the population of Chattanooga were acorns, in 70 years we would only have 173 oak trees! You are impressed by my facts, huh?

So back to my story....I gave up and stopped searching. Then this morning I woke up with this feeling of expectation. I began to ask the Lord, "what is this about?" "What are you up to? Please tell me!" I felt like a kid begging to know what they were getting for their birthday. Then I heard him say, "I am able to do geat things...things far above all that you have asked." Then I thought of a verse in Ephesians that sounded alot like that. As soon as I got to work, I looked it up. Sure enough, there it was in Ephesians, chapter 3 verse 20:

*****Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us.***** NKJV

I'm thinking, "Wow! Papa you are so good!" You see, everyday we can wake up knowing and expecting our heavenly Father is up to something amazing! According to this verse, it will be something we could have never imagined or thought of on our own. Even though we don't know what it will be, just knowing that He is up to something in our lives should stir our hearts towards him.

.....so back to the acorn....I went in to work and the Lord started speaking again. He reminded me of the acorn I found the day before.

SIDE NOTE: I love it when Papa starts speaking to me, but He does it alot when I am at work. This can really make it difficult to work sometimes. I'm always afraid I'll forget what he said so I'll jot notes down in my phone (as I can)so I can go back to it later. But still, its just really hard to focus on work when all I want to do is go hide in the bathroom and talk to God!

It all started to make sense. When we were in Chicago for Jesus Culture Awakening in August, Bill Johnson gave a word about acorns. Sometimes we just see an acorn, but God sees an oak tree. How many times do we minimize what God is able to do down to just what we can see, think, or ask? The result is we don't expect much. OR We reserve the right to wait till we can see it before we acknowledge the work He is doing. The truth is a renewed mind(Romans 12:2)allows us to see the oak tree in the acorn. You may look at your life and see bunch of acorns, but God sees an oak tree. The acorn is a symbol of hope. The hope we have through Christ ensures that the work, the Father is doing in us, through his Spirit, is "exceedingly abundantly above all that we could ever think or ask for". We can wake up everyday with the expectant hope that, though we may not see it now, God is up to something good in our lives.

Lets talk about this story of "against-all-odds-victory" we can see in an acorn. Do you remember me telling you that only 1 in 10,000 acorns becomes an oak tree? I won't list them all, but there are many reasons behind it. Basically, though, the odds are that the acorn won't ever make it to the ground and if it does it will probably get snatched up. One thing that will never change is the potential for that acorn to become an oak tree. Our destiny always has and always will be, to become sons and daughters of the Most High King, to know our Abba Father and live in relationship with him. No matter what the odds are, no matter what the circumstances are in our lives, this truth will never change. Because of our sin, it would seem that the odds are against us. I'm here to tell you that the love of the Father displayed on the cross through his son, Jesus, has the power to rescue us into his loving embrace and firmly plant us into our destiny.

To all who mourn in Israel, he will give a crown of beauty for ashes, a joyous blessing instead of mourning, festive praise instead of despair. IN THEIR RIGHTEOUSNESS, THEY WILL BE LIKE GREAT OAKS THAT THE LORD HAS PLANTED FOR HIS OWN GLORY. Isaiah 61:3 NLT (emphasis mine)

So an acorn is a story of hope, victory, and legacy. I also mentioned at the beginning that it takes 70-80 years for an oak tree to reach full acorn producing potential. Ok, so I could plant an acorn today at age 34 and would never see my tree reach its full potential. This is legacy. We are sowing and planting into the "acorns" of our lives, but we may never actually see its full-grown, mature state. The next generation will benefit from the oak trees of the future. They will enjoy its shade and strength. There are several oak trees in my life whose shade and strength have meant the world to me. I'm so thankful for their lives and the ways I have benefited. This encourages me to grow and mature into an oak tree, whose roots go deep, whose shade provides cover and protection, and whose strength gives someone something to lean on.

I'll end with this, did you know that an oak tree's roots grow deeper than most other trees. Its roots have the capacity to drink in massive amounts of life-giving water. I believe our roots should be deep and constantly drinking in the love of the Father. This is the message version of Ephesians 3:20.

God can do anything, you know-far more than you could ever imagine or guess or request in your wildest dreams! He does it not by pushing us around but by working within us, his Spirit deeply and gently within us.

Is that good or what?? Well, thats all I got for now. I love you all and pray you all can see the oak tree :)