The tongue that brings healing is a tree of life, but a deceitful tongue crushes the spirit (Proverbs 15:4).

I've long thought that the name "Green Tree" would be a great name for a church... So organic, strong, alive.  Trees combine establishment with adaptation, solidity with flexibility, presence with potentiality -- a force of life that can exist anywhere and everywhere, even in the harshest of environments.  And what's coolest is that there's a lot of scriptural imagery to back it up.  Throughout the Bible, trees can be found representing the righteous man, the Kingdom of God, the choice between good and evil, eternal life, Jesus himself... and, in Proverbs 15:4, the tongue that brings healing.

This is a powerful metaphor for the church to embrace (whether we call ourselves "Green Tree" or not).  I love the idea of the church being a community of healers.  Even as we're doing our own healing and recovery, we can help heal others.

Unfortunately, people outside the church don't typically have this association of believers.  On the contrary, they think of the church as being a more likely place for judgmentalism, condemnation, hypocrisy, and even wounding.  So what do we do, if we want to correct these misperceptions and retake our rightful roles in healing and recovery?  There are many answers to this question -- but it seems to me that one of the natural steps to improve would be ruthlessly rooting out all traces of deceit, falsity, and hypocrisy.  Instead, we have to embrace honesty, transparency, and humility.  Because, simply put, a deceitful tongue crushes the spirit.  We won't be able to heal if we're too busy covering our own tracks and misleading with our mouths.

I've seen some churches play the role of the Green Tree very well -- modeling humility and transparency -- and not coincidentally, they're often the ones where the greatest healing takes place.  Still, this is easier said than done.  For me, I feel that I need to get better at admitting when I'm scared, lonely, and discouraged sometimes.  I need to let others reach out and help me sometimes and accept their help gratefully and openly.  But this is just a starting point... I encourage you to similarly consider how you can take steps towards greater humility and transparency.  What would it mean for YOU to climb up into the Green Tree of Life?