The seasons of the maple tree teach us our need to meditate on God's Word and spend time in prayer daily. A powerful analagy of Spiritual demand and supply.

What is a Quiet Time and why do I need it?

The maple tree is prized for its cool summer shade, its beautiful woodgrain, its red fall foilage, and its delightful sap. It has weathered many storms by sending its roots deep. The maple spends its days absorbing nutrients from the earth and the sun, and drinking moisture from God's bounty.

The cold winter nights are essential for the tree to be able to produce its sweet syrup in the Spring. The colder winter, the greater the sap production. But the cold winter night doesn't hurt the maple because it has stored God's nutrients in its trunk.

We could learn a lesson from the maple. We live such shallow lives, indulging our flesh but neglecting our spiritual needs. Then we wonder why our leaves are sparse, our woodgrain is blemished, our foilage is faded, and our sap is bittersweet.

God said, "For my people have committed two evils; they have forsaken me the fountain of living waters, and hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water" (Jeremiah 2:13). Just as the maple drinks the moisture that God provides, so do we need to drink from God's fountains of living waters in His Word instead of looking to the world to quench our thirst.

Jesus said, "Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God" (Matthew 4:4). God' has given us His Word in the Scriptures. How different our lives would be if we would take time to feed on the Spiritual nutirents there!

Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful.

But his delight is in the law of the LORD; and in his law doth he meditate day and night.

And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper (Psalm 1:1-3).

Blessed is the man that trusteth in the LORD, and whose hope the LORD is.

For he shall be as a tree planted by the waters, and that spreadeth out her roots by the river, and shall not see when heat cometh, but her leaf shall be green; and shall not be careful in the year of drought, neither shall cease from yielding fruit (Jeremiah 17:7-8).

A daily Quiet Time with God helps us achieve the purpose and serenity we all look for. Just as we need nutrients from food for our physical bodies each day, we need nourishment of God's Word for our emotional and spiritual needs. We need to send our roots deep into His precepts in order to weather our storms. We need His guidance and wisdom for our cold winter nights.