Episode Transcript
[00:00:06] Speaker A: Okay. It is contradiction reconciliation day here at Shalom, Macon.
How's that for excitement?
Last week, I stood up here and I told you, you know, step out of the circle.
Step out of the circle. Now is certain, later is a lie. Stop waiting. Stop procrastinating. The time is now. And then at the end of that, I said, it's about to be your moment.
Come back next week to find out why.
Now, that seems at best a contradiction, if not, at worst, very poor communication and confusing. If now is certain and later is a lie, why am I saying that your moment is coming?
Why not just now? It sounds like I'm giving you an escape hatch. You should do this now. But wait, but you came back next week. That's this week. So we need to reconcile this.
I didn't mean to give you an escape hatch. Today I'm going to show you why this isn't a contradiction. What I was saying. And why, of all things, tu bishvat, the new year for trees, which we celebrate tomorrow night and Monday, makes it all make sense. Now, that is a tall order, but I feel confident.
It's been a month exactly since January 1st. Today is January 31st.
Anyone make any grand plans for things that you would like to accomplish and have had them taper off a little bit yet?
Most people have. I joined a new gym. January 1st, three weeks.
Packed last week. Not packed.
Usually lasts about 21 days.
But let's talk about January for a minute. Think about what January actually is. It is a date on the Roman administrative calendar. Did you know that? Named after the God Janus, or Janus if you're in the south. A pagan God with two faces. One looked forward, one looked back. He's the God of doorways. I should say the false God of doorways, of gates, of beginnings and ends, of transitions.
The Romans made offerings to Janus at the beginning of the year to seek clarity and favor and right ordering. The Roman political system actually chose January because that's when senators took office or something like that. I didn't spend a lot of time on that, but not because it had anything to do with growth or flourishing. It was just a convenient political thing to do. January is not rooted in creation, it's not rooted in agriculture. It's not rooted in biology. It's not even consistent across the hemispheres. It's 20 here, it's 80 in Australia right now.
And yet the whole world has made a point and a habit to tell us this is the moment.
January 1st.
Now launch it. Transform your life. Join the gym. Do the big thing. Launch the project. Become the new person. It's January, and we wonder why that doesn't work.
We wonder why by February, most things are abandoned. We assume we failed because of lack of discipline.
But I'm going to suggest something else. The timing is working against you.
Here's what your body knows.
Yes, this is going to be one of the weirdest messages I ever gave, and I love it.
Science knows and has been studying what happens to human beings in the winter.
And it turns out that they can tell you things that the calendar will not tell you.
Human physiology tracks seasonal light. You have circadian rhythms, right? You've heard of circadas, though, those little bugs on the tree?
Circadian rhythms, the internal clocks that regulate your mood, your energy, your cognitive performance. Guess what drives them so often?
Sunlight exposure. When the days shorten these rhythms, they shift, your alertness drops, your motivation decreases. You've heard of seasonal affective disorder, appropriately named sad.
That's the clinical version.
That's what researchers.
That's a name. But there's another name for it. A little less. It's not depression, it's just the winter blues.
Reduced motivation. A pull toward rest, toward withdrawal.
Less sunlight hitting the eyes. That directly affects your.
Like you're up, your serotonin, your neurotransmitters. And to that you add cold weather. That keeps us indoors. There's less physical movement. You have this feedback loop going on of decreasing energy.
The science of biological rhythms.
Many aspects of our physiology shift with the seasons.
Hormone levels, brain function. There's a reason that animals hibernate in the winter.
In other words, your body knows it's winter and it's not a winter wonderland.
Your body is saying, this is not the season for maximum output.
And then the world hands you a list of ambitious resolutions and says, go.
You're ready for this. Charge.
Half the world's trying to do it with a hangover on top of that. That probably also came from Rome. But the deeper issue is not winter versus summer, or it's the artificiality of January as some kind of reset button. Whether you're depleted by darkness and cold or you're burning up in heat, now is not the moment to transform everything. That's not how God designed growth to work. Now, how do we know this?
Look to the trees, my friends, brings us to Tu Bishvat. Tomorrow marks the new year for trees, one might think, especially if you're new to this Jewish calendar thing, this Jewish idea. Hmm, A new year for trees.
That's cute.
Plant some trees. Tend to the environment and our green culture. Eat some fruit. Nice. Kind of strange, but good for you guys.
It is, of course, more than that.
The Mishnah explains, and I've shared this with you before, but many people don't know what tu bishvat is. The Mishnah explains that there are how many new years in the calendar?
Four. Right. Nisan, the new year for kings and festivals. Tishrei, the month for years, sabbatical cycles. Tu Bishvat, the new year for trees. Elul, the new year for animals.
For tithing animals. Now let's answer this question that most people immediately ask. New year for trees.
I don't think I read that in the Bible.
Is tu bishvat biblical? The answer? No, not explicitly.
You won't find a verse that says, somewhere in the midst of Deuteronomy, oh Yeah, on the 15th of Shabbat, celebrate a new year for the trees. Go out and pick a few leaves.
But here is the more important question. Is it necessary based on the Bible, is a day like this necessary based on the Torah's commands? And the answer is absolutely yes.
The Torah commands tithes on agriculture. Deuteronomy says, you tithe your crops, you keep your years distinct, you don't move, Mix certain fabrics and other things. But specifically, the Torah commands us that the fruit from the trees be treated differently, depending on its age. The first three years, Orla, it's forbidden, can't eat it. Fourth year of fruit production goes to Hashem. Fifth year, you can start eating the fruit. It's permitted. Which raises a problem.
And this is the practical thing. If a tree begins producing fruit in one year, that develops and matures into the next, which year does it belong to for tithing it?
Where do you find that answer in the Torah?
You can't. The line, you need a date line to make this decision. And that date line is exactly the 15th of Shavat to Bishvat. So the rabbis didn't invent man made holidays to make all of the. If it ain't in the Bible, people mad.
It exists to be obedient to the Torah so that the command can actually be lived out. That's the purpose.
Oh, that makes sense. Now I see why the trees get a new year.
But wait, there's oh so much more. My friends, this is a story.
Beautiful, hidden, meaningful side of the story. It's actually about something much deeper than that. It's about God's creative order. It's about the rhythm and the growth he built into creation and into you.
If you look Outside, at any fruit tree, you will see what looks to be a dead tree.
Bare branches, no leaves, no fruit, no visible sign of life. It's dormant, but it looks dead. But Jewish tradition explains that something miraculous and great and wonderful is happening. What is happening? If you've ever been to a Tu Bishvat seder, we talk a lot about it. What is actually happening in this season of dormancy?
Who knows?
SAP.
The sages teach that right now, in the middle of what looks like winter, the SAP begins to rise into the trees. The nourishment, that which will bring life and fruit deep underground and into the tree, invisible to anyone watching.
The tree is waking up.
The SAP is moving. The internal systems are coming back to life. The preparations for spring are getting underway. No one sees it. It looks exactly like it did in December. Same tree.
And the trees don't actually fight this. Did you know that?
They don't resist the seasons. When fall comes and the leaves begin to drop, the trees don't fight and say, no, I'm holding onto this.
I'm gonna keep my leaves this year. I'm gonna power through.
They just release. They shed, they let go.
When the winter comes and everything goes dormant, the trees are not in a panic.
They don't assume the worst.
They just settle in to rest.
They don't try to produce fruit. They wait. And when the time is right, not when the calendar says, when Creation says so, the SAP rises, the buds form, the blossoms appear, and then ultimately, fruit comes. And they trust that. Now I know what you're thinking. Wow. You really are weird. These are trees, Damien.
Trees.
They don't have a mind.
They don't have a choice.
This is a stupid message you're giving.
They don't have those things, but they do have energy.
They were spoken into existence by the very word of God.
If you don't believe me, read Genesis. It's in there, right at the beginning. You don't even have to study that far.
There's a day it happened.
You don't believe that the energy of God is in the trees?
The essence of creation dwells within the very cells, within the very atoms that construct life. I absolutely believe that, weird as I may be, the energy that holds the world together is Hashem, and it's in us, too.
Trees are made of atoms and cells, the same creative force that runs through all creative things. And you guess what?
You were created with atoms and cells and a creative force that runs through everything. But then you were endowed with an even more special gift, which was the Ruach, the breath that brought it, brought it to life in a new way.
So we do have something in common with the trees. There's a verse in Deuteronomy, has to do with some wonderful midrashic and mystical interpretations through Jewish literature. It has to do actually with the laws of warfare where they say, moses says, when you go into the land, don't cut down. What?
Don't cut down the fruit trees.
Right. Leave them.
Kihadam et chasadei, for the tree is the. For is the tree of the field, a man.
And the rabbi is taking liberty to make beautiful points, translate that around and say, for the man is like a tree of the field.
It's a little bit of a stretch, but it's okay. We are connected to the trees. And I'm playing off that, for this message to say that their cycle actually mirrors ours.
Their growth patterns teach us about our own. They teach us about renewal, restart and growth. And if the trees, mindless trees, are endowed with the goodness of God, and we all the more are filled with the ruach, should not we also look at the seasons and the timing and say, I accept this. I'm ready to grow the right way at the right time.
Because the trees teach us about this season. They teach us about winter, but they also teach us about the whole year.
When you see it, you realize that we're supposed to be doing the same thing that they are.
I told you it'd be weird. Think about fall.
What happens to a tree in the fall?
They let go. I already said that. They shed everything. All that growth from the summer, all the leaves that were producing and working, they release it. The branches go bare. The trees are standing there exposed. What are we supposed to do in the fall?
At the fall holidays of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, we shed our stuff.
We let go. We come clean. We come before God exposed, honest about failures. We ask for renewal. We drop our leaves, so to speak.
The trees don't hold on.
I didn't work hard for these. They're not protecting me. I'm just gonna go and trust and let God do.
We're supposed to do that. It's a little more difficult for us than it is for the trees to drop our leaves, isn't it?
Then comes winter, they rest, they conserve. And that's a hard season, as I explained, with your body. For us as well. The days are short. Energy's low, feels boring and dull and dark, and nothing's happening. But right in the middle, right in the middle Comes now. Tu bishvat.
The SAP begins to rise. The invisible change starts. And that's where we are now. This.
This is the moment of internal awakening.
Then, still on this idea of the calendar, then comes Purim, then comes Passover. And we see this. The buds appear, the blossoms open. What becomes visible? And by Shavuot, we're celebrating the harvest. And things are happening. The. The trees follow God's calendar. They shed when it's time to shed. They rest when they need to rest. They awaken when they should awaken. They bloom when they need to bloom.
Somebody took my towel. Where's my towel?
I just realized it.
Where's Karen or cleaning crew? This is not planned. I'm actually just realizing I don't have my towel up here. I'm gonna have to walk out and find it in a minute. Just stay with me.
I make plans for this.
I had a towel set right here, waiting for the exact moment to just unveil it, and it's gone.
The message is ruined. Shabbat shalom.
Trees don't procrastinate when the season arrives.
They just do the work. It doesn't say, you know what? No SAP this year. I'll rise next year.
I'll have more confidence next year. I'll feel better about myself next year. SAP down, next year up.
They don't wait for a better time. And they also don't force blossoms in January.
It's not a time.
Resolutions.
They're good. In principle, we should always be examining our lives and pursuing growth. But I propose to you that we actually do this along the calendar of God rather than Janus.
Some checkpoints are bigger than others, obviously. We have the fall season.
We have late winter, the approach of spring. And isn't it remarkable? Oh, thank you, Darren.
It's back on, baby.
But I find it remarkable, with all of the holidays and everything that goes on in our beautiful calendar, that this seemingly small occasion, a recognition of trees to observe nature, is actually a phenomenal time to tap in to awakening from your own dormancy.
Tu bishvat.
It's not just an acknowledgment of God's beautiful creative power in the trees.
That's part of it, but it's an acknowledgment of beautiful, incredible, created power within us. And as I said, if the trees respond, you should too.
So here's what I'm asking you to do.
Don't be fruity.
First things first.
It's not the time for fruit.
This isn't about forcing visible fruit and having Some overnight, you know, miraculous thing. That's not the season, but it is the season for the internal work.
It is the season this week before Purim comes and before Passover and before spring and all those things.
Now.
Now tackle the thing you've been wanting to do, needing to do, avoiding to do. Write it down, plan it, tell somebody about it, make it real. Bring it out of the realm of. Of perpetual possibility into actual intention.
Everyone has something that they should dedicate themselves to. And most people have a hesitation to do hard things.
Take the first step as the SAP rises. Not the whole journey, just a step that's in front of you. Trees don't bloom all at once. And the SAP doesn't just say, and that's it. There's a process, there's an elevation, but there is a turning point. Something shifts internally. There's a commitment to the process.
The fruit will come. And that's where you are. That's your moment. It's your moment for the internal. Yes, the commitment.
And God willing, when Purim comes in a month, you stepped into what Purim represents.
Courage.
The courage of Esther that followed after to Bishvat on the SAP rising. There was some serious SAP rising in Esther while she was in.
Where was she? I've forgotten.
Shushan. Thank you.
And then Passover comes.
So you move from rising into courage, into freedom and redemption. This is God's calendar. This is you.
You've heard this before, I'm sure, but I'll share it. There's an old question about trees.
When's the best time to plant a tree?
That's it.
That was the answer 20 years ago.
When's the second best time to plant a tree today?
Same thing applies for us. I don't care if your January's been a total bust. I don't care if you didn't even do anything in January. Good for you. It would have been the wrong time anyway.
But now let's get sappy.
I like it.
What kind of congregation do you have?
Sappy.
And remember. Remember this.
If you don't know what that is, watch last week and make one remember this.
As you expand, as more light comes in, the person who's sitting here now to tackle the great things ahead will not be that person. It will be the expanded, beautiful, wonderful, growing SAP rising, preparing to bloom. Person.
Step out of the circle, friends.
You are energized. Clay, you are not done becoming. And all around you, you're getting ready to watch the witness to God's incredible faithfulness as he brings the world alive again.
Isn't it such a wonderful, beautiful, beautiful season to watch it happen?
But it's starting now, and it's starting inside of you.
Why was this towel so important?
Because as I finished writing this message, I got up from my chair to go get some water, and as I grabbed my water, I spilled my water and I looked for a towel and opened the drawer and this is what was on the towel that I grabbed.
It says, live life in full bloom.
You could say that's a cheesy coincidence.
I don't think it is.
I think it's a good title for a sermon that's calling you to let it rise.
The world is waking up.
You can too, live in full bloom.
[00:26:03] Speaker B: Shabbat Shalom I'm Darren with Shalom Macon. If you enjoyed this teaching, I want to ask you to take the next step. Start by making sure you subscribe to our channel.
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