When I was a little boy, around age 7 to age 9, I loved to climb up into a large oak tree in our side yard behind the victory garden (World War II) and see how far up I could climb before the tree branches got too small. I would sit up in that tree and look around and feel like the king of the world.

I liked to carve my initials in this tree as high as I could climb and reach so everyone who climbed up there in the future would know I was up that high.

I never climbed out onto the thin twiggy limbs because I knew those little branches could not support me. If I dared to climb onto them, they would very likely break and I would fall out of the tree and get severely hurt.

Once or twice I was up in the tree and a strong wind would blow through and I would hang on to the trunk of that tree with all my might until the wind would die down.

Perhaps many of you reading this article have done the same as a child.

Do you know that God's way of life is very much like climbing up into a large sturdy oak tree? And just as the oak trees I used to climb as a young boy were safest when I was holding on to the trunk, we are also the safest when we are holding on to the trunk of the tree—the tree of life—and God's way of life.

Let's take a look at the trunk of the tree and understand what God means when He tells us to "lay hold on eternal life" and the very trunk of the tree so we will always stay out of the twigs that can take up our precious time and lead us into areas where we could fall out and get severely hurt (1 Timothy 6:12).

We will see that a strong, sturdy tree is a representation of something that God wants each one of us to become—like a strong, sturdy oak tree that is healthy and not cluttered with a lot of twigs and weak branches.

It's interesting to note that there are many references to trees in the Bible as examples of security, safety and good spiritual health.

Psalm 1 is a good example of a strong, sturdy tree representing a person of God that is on the right track and on the straight and narrow road that leads to eternal life. "He shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that brings forth its fruit in its season, whose leaf also shall not wither; and whatever he does shall prosper" (Psalm 1:3).

In this psalm we receive many clues regarding the makeup of a sturdy, healthy tree. This tree is healthy because it has been planted in a good area to receive the proper nourishment it needs to withstand the adverse conditions it may encounter during its life. It's planted by channels of water so it can thrive from the minerals and moisture it needs from this close water source.

We too must be nourished daily and renewed spiritually daily by the living waters of God's Holy Spirit. We must remain close to God and Jesus Christ, the source of this nourishment in order to maintain a constant flow of the Holy Spirit day and night. "He who believes in Me as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water" (John 7:38). And in 2 Corinthians 4:16 it says, "Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day."

Just what makes up the trunk of the tree—in this case the trunk of the tree of life? Here are four of the fibers that make up this trunk for you to consider.

Trusting in God Always

One of the first fibers of the trunk of this tree is the fiber of trusting in God always and for everything. One of the character traits that made David "a man after God's own heart" was his faithful trust in God.

Look at Jeremiah 17:7-8: "Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD, and whose hope is in the LORD. For he shall be like a tree planted by the waters, which spreads out its roots by the river, and will not fear when heat comes; but its leaf will be green, and will not be anxious in the year of drought, nor will cease from yielding fruit."

When we trust God with our whole heart, we have already become close to God through daily prayer, Bible study, meditation and regular fasting. We have grown to know and understand His love and power and we are yielded to Him and we cast all our cares on Him daily (1 Peter 5:6-7). Then God can bless and guide us in His ways so we can prosper according to His will for us.

When we grow to trust God, we are totally dependent on Him for everything (Psalm 18:1-3).

Godly Wisdom

A second important fiber in this tree's trunk is wisdom. This godly wisdom comes from God to us through His Holy Spirit when we recognize that we desperately need it. It comes to us when we ask Him for it so we can better serve others as well as ourselves.

"Happy is the man who finds wisdom...She is a tree of life to those who take hold of her, and happy are all who retain her" (Proverbs 3:13, 18).

Wisdom can also diminish and leave us, as in the case of Solomon. When Solomon was small in his own eyes, he prayed for wisdom to enable him to serve God's people and to advise them properly (1 Kings 3:1-15). Later in Solomon's life, when he became too big in his own eyes, some of the wisdom God gave him left and he went after other gods and consorted with his 300 wives and 700 concubines.

God's Commandments

Understanding and keeping God's Commandments makes up another huge portion of the fiber in the trunk of this tree. Proverbs 11:30 says, "The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life, and he who wins souls is wise" (compare Psalm 119:172).

When we are consistently striving daily to keep God's Commandments, we grow in bearing the fruit of God's Spirit found in Galatians 5:22-23. Our personal examples then shine as lights in this world of darkness, not in a self-righteous way, but in a humble, godly way of never compromising with God's way of life and of not conforming to this world's ways.

A Wholesome Tongue

Another important fiber in the trunk of this tree is a clean, truthful and wholesome tongue. "A wholesome tongue is a tree of life, but perverseness in it breaks the spirit" (Proverbs 15:4).

When we are clinging to the trunk of the tree of life, our words are clean and pure, not corrupt and filthy. We do not spread rumors, true or otherwise, we do not gossip, and we do not lie (James 3:1-12). We strive daily to be "swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath" (James 1:19). We make sure we obtain the facts and both sides of a story before we make a judgment or determine a course of action (Proverbs 18:13).

These are just some of the main materials that make up the trunk of the tree. Let's stay out of the twigs and let's always cling to the trunk of God's tree where it's safe, so we never fall out and get hurt or lose our life. UN