Tree of Life

Tree of Life batik by Agung

I've been captured by yet another metaphor: the tree of life. I suppose it started when I had some time to kill between a counseling session and a class I was taking at St. Mary's, an Anglican church in the heart of Kuala Lumpur. I took the opportunity to wander around one of my favorite places--Central Market. This is a permanent, covered, 2-story structure packed to the gills with little shops of handicrafts and artwork from around the region, not to mention a great food court. One store in particular drew my attention--it featured batik artwork of a few local artists, and one of the featured pieces was The Tree of Life by an artist named Agung. Interestingly enough, as I struck up a conversation with the girl in the store about how the imagery plays out in the Bible, she started naming all the foreign tourists who had brought up the same subject! Kind of put me in my place that it wasn't actually an original conversation piece (not that she meant it that way).

Central Market entrance

Anyway, I kept thinking about it. In fact I searched the Scriptures for where it talks about such things (with a little help from my daughter Jen scanning and sending me relevant pages from The Dictionary of Biblical Imagery). And what I'm left with, is an overwhelming sense of the shade, refuge, safety, and contentment we find when we drink deeply of the living water that God offers us. But also, when we do that, how we can offer shade, refuge, and refreshment to others who come our way. I'm holding onto that imagery for what I can offer here in Malaysia. I'm continually reminded of my need to "drink deeply," but also to look for opportunities (with all the people I mentioned in the last blog post) to offer some shade.

Central Market interior

In some ways life has gotten more routine here--although never a dull moment! Tom's very busy keeping up with his classes (already half-way through the first semester!). I spend a lot of time from home supervising my CCEF online class. But then there's all kinds of unpredictable in-between moments. If we're intentional about it, they can be times spent with people and offering shade. Here, as anywhere, there's always the risk that we miss those moments, especially if we're not "drinking deeply" ourselves. Perhaps we could pray for each other, that we would be "like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever we do prospers." (Psalm 1:3)

Blessings,
Janet for us both