"Ever Full of Sap and Green"

We use the word “sapped” to describe being depleted.

I have had an exhausting three weeks but I don’t feel sapped helping care for my father as he was diagnosed and began treatment for cancer.

How could that be? I put over a one thousand miles on my car in a week and have driven no further than 60 miles at a time. My backside has sat for hours in chairs in a setting surreal and sterile, warm but cold, alive and dying. 

My body is tired and my muscles on the left side of my neck and shoulder are roped and aching, but the spirit of Christ is alive in me. 

The Scripture shed these leaves of gold on me this morning:

The righteous flourish like the palm tree
and grow like a cedar in Lebanon.
They are planted in the house of the Lord;
they flourish in the courts of our God.
They still bear fruit in old age;
they are ever full of sap and green,
to declare that the Lord is upright;
he is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in him. 
(Psalm 92:12-15, ESV)

In Christ, I am not depleted; I am “ever full of sap and green.” 

Last year the willow oak out front waited late into May to sprout its leaves. Every other oak up and down the road was dressed. The willow struggled to put on its shade. My man almost cut it down.

I urged him to give it a little longer. I had scratched the surface and saw the green under its grey coat. The sap bled and I swiped it sticky on my finger. There was hope.

It lived even though it looked like it was dying. 

Looks can be deceiving, and I am remembering this as I head to Infusion 4 today.

Joining Lisa Jo for Five Minute Friday. Word prompt: Tree