“The earth brought forth vegetation, plants yielding seed after their kind, and trees 🌳bearing fruit with seed in them, after their kind; and God saw that it was good. ”
Before God ever created people, He filled the earth with trees🌳 that could bear fruit—and seed. On day three, the Lord planted provision not only for the first humans but for every generation that would follow. Trees were designed to nourish, to shade, to sustain, and to multiply. Their fruit feeds the present; their seed ensures the future.
Genesis reminds us that God always prepares what we need before we need it. Long before we take our first steps into a new season, God has already planted the provision that will carry us through it.
Reflection: How often do you stop and thank God for today’s blessings, remembering that He planted and nurtured them long before you were aware of His provision?
Evening— Seeing People Through Fresh Lenses
Focal Passage: Genesis 1:26–27
“Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness… So God created man in His own image… male and female He created them.”
Someone has said that we all view the world through our own handcrafted lenses. Try as we might, we can’t seem to view others outside our own biases. Genesis 1 invites us to put on a new set of lenses. Every person you meet today—every one of them—bears the image of God. That truth alone changes the way we encounter our world.
C. S. Lewis captured this beautifully:
“There are no ordinary people. You have never talked to a mere mortal… Next to the Blessed Sacrament itself, your neighbor is the holiest object presented to your senses.”
The most “ordinary” person in your path today carries eternal weight: Your spouse. Your kids. Your coworkers. The barista. The cashier. The person who frustrates you. The person who blesses you.
Each is an eternal being. All are image bearers of God. This truth alone should reshape the way we view others—and ourselves.
Dr. Robert Pyne tells a powerful story about his son, Steve:
“Steve had open-heart surgery at eight months old. Some people wouldn’t have allowed that surgery—because Steve has Down Syndrome. It’s tempting to defend his life by listing everything he can do. But the real reason his life was worth saving is this: he has inherent dignity as a human being made in the image of God. The same is true for people who will never read, never speak, or never smile. Their worth does not come from what they can do, but from whose image they bear.”
Today, try putting on creation lenses, shaped by the truth that every person carries God’s imprint.
Our vision will certainly improve.
Reflection: Who is one person in your life you tend to overlook, avoid, or take for granted—and how might seeing them as an image bearer change the way you interact with them today?
Closing Prayer: Father, open my eyes today. Help me see every person I meet—family, friends, strangers, even difficult people—as someone created in Your image and deeply loved by You. Let me treat others with dignity, kindness, and grace. Amen.
The story of Scripture begins and ends with a tree.🌳
In Genesis, a tree 🌳stands at the center of God’s garden—a reminder of His generosity, His presence, and the life He intended for His people. In Revelation, this tree 🌳reappears—its leaves bringing healing, its fruit offered freely, its roots drawing from the river of life. And in the middle of history, between Eden and New Creation, there stands a third tree: the cross of Christ.
These three trees🌳—the Tree of Life, the Tree of Calvary, and the Tree of Life restored—mark the great movements of God’s redeeming work. They tell us where we came from, what went wrong, and how God is making all things new.
This devotional is a journey through that story.
Beginning January 1st and over the next 365 days, we will walk from creation to new creation, from ruin to redemption, from brokenness to restoration. You will read passages that reveal God’s character, His promises, His warnings, His mercy, and His relentless pursuit of His people. You will walk with Abraham beneath the stars, listen to Moses beside the burning bush, stand with Joshua at the Jordan, kneel with David in confession, and wait with the prophets for the coming King.
We will follow Jesus from His cradle to His cross to His empty tomb. We will watch the early church take root and flourish. And we will finish where Scripture finishes—beneath the branches of the Tree of Life🌳, where God’s people will dwell with Him forever.
Along the way, we will encounter many trees: the tamarisk Abraham planted, the oaks of righteousness promised in Isaiah, the parable of the fig tree, and the mustard seed that grows into sheltering branches. These are not incidental details. The Bible uses trees to remind us who we are, who God is, and what kind of story He is writing.
Trees are rooted. Trees grow slowly. Trees endure storms. Trees provide shade, fruit, beauty, and restoration. Trees remind us that His work in us—and through us—happens season by season, not all at once.
This devotional is not meant to be rushed. It is meant to be received.
Each day includes a Scripture reading and a reflection designed to help you slow down, breathe deeply, and see both God and people more clearly. Some entries will challenge you; others will comfort you. Some will confront your assumptions; others will lift your eyes. All of them will point you back to the God who planted the first garden and is preparing the last one.
Whether you are beginning your spiritual journey or continuing it, whether this is your first time reading the Bible or your fortieth, my prayer is that this year will give you fresh eyes—new lenses—for seeing God, seeing His world, and seeing the people He loves.
So, take a deep breath. Open your Bible. Step beneath the branches. You are about to walk the most beautiful path ever written—from Tree to Tree🌳.Â
C. S. Lewis in his masterpiece, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe has Lucy Pevensie step into an ordinary wardrobe—fur coats brushing against her arms—suddenly feel the coats thin out, and her feet crunch in snow. She realizes she is no longer in a room but in a forest. What seemed familiar opens into something vast, living, and unexpected.
May these pages lead you closer to the One who planted a forest of truth for all of us to explore. May you, as Psalm 1 says, become a tree 🌳planted by streams of water—rooted, flourishing, and alive in Him.Â
