Be Leaves On The Tree Of Faith

We are taught that faith is like a little seed that we can plant and have it grow into a mighty tree. And on this tree of faith, what would be the leaves if not our beliefs? The leaves on a tree open themselves up so that they can fully absorb all of the light and transform it into life-sustaining energy. A tree does not rely on any one single leaf but puts out thousands of leaves so that if some are torn off by the wind, or gnawed upon by insects or wither from extreme temperatures, the tree can still survive. Just as trees are nurtured by many leaves, we must make sure that our trees of faith are nurtured by many beliefs. We should not rely on only one or two beliefs to keep our faith growing. We should be constantly finding new sources of beliefs that can be leaves on our tree of faith. We should fearlessly unfurl our beliefs so that they can absorb as much of our Father’s light and love as possible. Yes, being so open with our beliefs means that some of them will be torn off by fierce winds, or devoured by those who would mock and scorn and belittle us, but if some of our beliefs wither into doubt and confusion, our tree of faith need not die because it has so many leaves of belief that the world for all of its mocking and raging can not destroy our faith. Every time that we humbly and courageously do our Father’s will, we add another leaf of belief to our tree of faith. If there are certain commandments or principles that we have allowed to wither and die, then let us put out new leafs to replace the old ones, replacing old ignorance with new knowledge, old foolishness with new wisdom, old selfishness for new charity and compassion. Let us let our beliefs be leaves on the tree of our faith so that we can drink in more fully and more deeply of our Father’s light and love.