600 POUNDS

I think that I shall never see

A poem lovely as a tree.

A tree whose hungry mouth is prest

Against the earth’s sweet flowing breast;

A tree that looks at God all day,

And lifts her leafy arms to pray;

A tree that may in Summer wear

A nest of robins in her hair;

Upon whose bosom snow has lain;

Who intimately lives with rain.

Poems are made by fools like me,

But only God can make a tree.

By Joyce Kilmer

Joyce Kilmer was a journalist, literary critic, lecturer, poet, and editor. He was considered the leading American Roman Catholic poet and lecturer of his generation, one whom critics often compared to his British contemporary, G. K. Chesterton (1874–1936). Kilmer enlisted in the New York National Guard and was deployed to France with the 69th Infantry Regiment in 1917. He was killed by a sniper's bullet in 1918, dead at 31.  

His most famous poem is the one above and was made into a song. Kilmer may have said more than he knew because he echoed a beautiful truth found in Psalm 92: "The righteous man will flourish like the palm tree, He will grow like a cedar in Lebanon. Planted in the house of the Lord, They will flourish in the courts of our God. They will still yield fruit in old age . . ."

Psalm 92 is one of thanksgiving by the righteous man and in the song, the unknown author writes about what we would call the grace of Christian aging. He speaks of the believer, "the righteous man," who "will flourish like the palm tree," who "grows like a cedar of Lebanon," and who will yield fruit in old age."

That struck me: "the righteous will yield fruit in old age." The tree under discussion is the date palm which  "bears from three to four, and in some instances even as many as six, hundred pounds of fruit. (!) And there is no more charming and majestic sight than the palm of the oasis, this prince among the trees of the plain." (Delitzsch) Six hundred pounds of fruit. Six hundred pounds of fruit in maturity!

What a sight he is to behold--the Christian, growing old and as he does, producing fruit for the Lord! How refreshing he is as opposed to a person as he grows older, watching time passing so rapidly and becoming old, becomes bitter, sarcastic, rude, and mean. 

But the maturing believer who's producing six hundred pounds of fruit has come to that point by having a life of persistent prayer, one during which he has built into a fellowship of Christian friends, irrigated his mind with Word, been giving, and engaged in evangelism--he's an example of someone who set his focus on Christ years and years ago. Like the tree, this type of believer has "looked at God all day and lifted his arms to pray." 

When asked, "How can I have a lush green yard in August?" the answer was, "Prepare in March." The aging righteous man ever-productive for Christ--may his tribe increase.