Delight Comes First

The Coral Trees (also known as Flame Trees) have always brought me to marvel beneath their beauty. When I first saw them I thought they were the finest of wonders I had ever witnessed. You see, for most of the year they are a solitary twisting anatomy of a tree—bare branches with no evident hope of fullness. The shadows in this image show you their low-to-the-ground turning shape.

But when they dress-up each year, it is not a profusion of leaves that comes first with perhaps some buds mingled within the green foliage. The Lord decorates this tree, from the first, with flamboyant red ornaments at the tip of its branches. Its flowers are like a rapturous chorus celebrating the season of blossoming. The design of the bloom is in the shape of a far-flung Bird-of-Paradise in mid-flight. The fact that the flowers are blood red in color, and pointing towards an open heaven gives lyrics to the triumphant song. Their decoration with the flower first, is for me a reminder of the Savior’s ultimate sacrifice upon Calvary’s Tree.

Is this delight of mine over the Coral Tree a solitary poetic reverie? As my signature verse on the touching message of the Coral Flower, I’ll let Hebrews 12:3 write the message on my heart:  “For consider Him who has endured such hostility by sinners against Himself, so that you may not grow weary and lose heart.”

There is the deepest refreshment as we look to the Cross of Christ (a cure for weariness, and the flagging heart), and it can be found by looking-up and seeing something from the Coral Tree--something about a delight that is uncontainable. Delight has to come first--like the Coral Flower! Whatever it is that we enter into, whether it is wonderful adventure, or deep trial—the Cross of Jesus says to choose joy first—indeed, choose His joy. Hebrews 12:2 tells us that it was “…for the joy set before Him that He endured the Cross…”. Without His joy over us there is no Salvation! Coral Tree songs fill my breast with praise.

Considering Him! His profound messages are everywhere for our renewal and encouragement. Today they are found at the base of a Coral Tree overlooking the grand Pacific with a wondrous decoration of His love overhead. May we choose delight first--to be a flame of coral joy for Him.

The Joy on the Road

I watched him head out to ride upon the waters, but I didn't expect the frisky, colt-like leap that my lens was able to catch. It was delightful and it also set my heart to pondering about the road involved in any worthy journey.

A good stretching and a feel for the body and the soul's readiness is necessary before any challenge. His unexpected flight showed me that it could be more thrilling if the leap was part of the joy of making it to the top of a wave. He made me think about how we are not just built for those sweet moments of reaching the challenge of cresting the heights, but about how glorious the path to the elevated places can also be. Far from an interruption to the goal, the surprising vault was a spirited dance even at flat sea-level.

Then I remembered the beginning of the verse that is on the screen-lock on my phone~~1 Thessalonians 5:16: "Rejoice always..." Were they just words to skim over? Was the surfer illustrating for me what I thought was already on my heart? I was sure of it. If he had to turn around just after the great jump, remembering some task, I knew that his day of going into the Pacific was already one that wouldn't be hindered. He knew how to come and how to go, because like Jesus when He walked abroad here, nothing was really an interruption. Every thing that He encountered was an intense moment of having arrived at the place to leap for joy in showering heaven's love upon the one before Him.

Rejoice always!.... And I learned a new balletic move from a surfer who catapulted my heart to the dancing Jesus--on the road.