Trees come from seeds and when very young, they are subject to being eaten, stepped upon or bruised. They need nourishment and an environment where they can grow straight and get plenty of sunlight and water. If there are too many growing together, they cannot get what they need because they have to share so much.
Try this experiment and see what happens. Take a small tree from the woods and tie it in a knot and watch it grow. As it grows, the knot becomes more and more permanent. Many of us have had a bad childhood and the knot is still there. As we grew older, we may not remember the knot being tied in our lives. Our bodies were not only affected but our characters also.
The knot can be anything bad or wrong that was done to us as children and it may have permanently affected our ability to function in society. It can be sometimes impossible for some to face. The sad thing is, the child may grow up and have the same dispositions of the one or ones who harmed him. The grievance is transmitted from one generation to another.
Some trees do not do well with other trees around them, such as fruit trees and evergreen trees. Evergreen trees are acid and fruit trees are alkaline. The properties of one offset the properties in another and so it is with children. We must be careful that this doesn’t happen to our children when we introduce them into society.
“….that they might be called trees of righteousness the planting of the LORD, that he might be glorified.”
Isaiah 61:3
Jesus did not come here as a man like Adam. He was born as we are. He came through the natural processes as we came. He is our Pattern and Example in all things. He grew slowly as we grow and His understanding increased as our understanding increase.
His parents were indeed His guardians. When Herod sent his men to slay all the children that were in Bethlehem and thereabout, who were under two years old, Joseph and Mary took Jesus to Egypt until the death of Herod, thus fulfilling the Scriptures. (Matthew 3).
Joseph and Mary followed the instructions contained in the Word of God as to how they should train Jesus. We would do well today to follow the same instructions. Maybe our children would have more of the characteristics of Jesus.
Young trees need to be protected and guarded. If a weed eater spinning and spinning were to hit a small tree, it could damage it for life. Or, worse yet, it could kill it. There are some people who don’t need to be around small children or maybe any children. Accounts of what some adults have done to children is too horrible to describe. You can easily shake a child to death. They are very tender.
Some people have been known to leave their children in a hot car while they go on some business need or shopping errand. What were they thinking about? Maybe, they weren’t thinking at all.
In the Bible, thee was a warlike nation under the name Amalek who met the Israelites coming out of Egypt and smote the hindmost, the feeble, when Israel was faint and wear. (Deuteronomy 25:17-19). These were children and elderly people. God has a special vengeance of this who harm the feeble and helpless. He wanted the memory of Amalek to be blotted out. God gave Amalek space to repent but he did not. See the consequences in 1 Samuel chapter 15.
If we trained children like trees, we would see the blessed results. (Proverbs 22:6). Sadly, we don’t. We should protect them, which includes training them, until they can go on their own. Like the tree that’s firmly rooted and grounded, they will continue their course until they reach their height and width. Wind and storm may shake them, but they hold on. They in turn produce seed after their kind and God is glorified. indeed, the some is saved in childbearing (child training). (1 Timothy 2:15).