Many years ago, a set of trees were cut down. They were chopped. They were cut and formed. They were nailed together for the use of evil.

All those years ago, these trees were used by the Romans to make their infamous crosses. On one specific day, these three trees would hold upon their arms three men. Two of the men were criminals whom our God had set in place to attest to the reality that between them hung the Son of God. 

Luke 23:39-42 (NKJV) explains the resulting encounter. The one said, “If you are the Christ, save Yourself and us.” The second criminal rebuked the first, then turned to address Jesus. He says to Him, “Lord, remember me when You come into Your kingdom.”

I heard it said to me that there is a nail in a tree, and when it is pulled out it leaves a hole. The hole always remains. And it takes a lot of sap to fill that hole. 

This is actually a parable of life itself.

The nail in the tree is the presence of others in your life. It could be a parent, a spouse, or a child. They are a special part of your life. The connection, or attachment, is like they are nailed to you. 

When the nail is pulled out, it leaves a hole. Just the same, when that person who is “nailed” to you leaves, what remains is a void. That void always remains. 

No matter how much sap there is, it will never completely fill the hole. If the sap is a new person to replace the lost one, the hole their nail makes is different. As such, the hole never gets filled. 

However, if the sap is the true sap of the One Tree, then you can actually fill that hole. This true sap is faith, hope, love, and all the good memories. It is what comes from the Holy Spirit. 

Galatians 5:22-23 (NKJV) states, “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such, there is no law.”

The holes, the voids, the losses occur in everyone's lives. Recently, we have been suffering from some deaths in our family, resulting in these holes being felt in our lives. But, we must all expect these losses, or holes, to come to our lives.

Ecclesiastes 3 tells us of there being a time for everything. Ecclesiastes 3:2 (NKJV) states, “A time to be born, And a time to die …” Likewise, verse 3:4 (NKJV) states, “A time to weep, And a time to laugh; A time to mourn, And a time to dance …”

Everyone’s path of mourning takes its own route. Our holes all need to be filled in their own ways. But the sap from the Lord’s trees will always heal us, will always fill us, will always provide all we need and much more. 

Psalm 104:16-17 (NKJV) states, “The trees of the Lord are full of sap, The cedars of Lebanon which He planted, Where the birds make their nests; The stork has her home in the fir trees.”

The verses prior to this are talking of His provisions to us. I believe this is also talking of how He will provide to us the “sap” … or should we say the “fruit of the Spirit”?

Perhaps we all have some nails we still need to remove, or ones which may have been recently removed. Then we can seek the true sap of the One Tree, and fill the voids with the living fruit He has given.

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