Tree of Life, updated

At a New Year's prayer meeting ["http://confessionbyainsertidentityhere.blogspot.com/2013/01/2013-aka-year-4-aka-tree-of-life.html"] I received and shared the words "Tree of Life" -- and my vision of a big, fat tree with an abundance of leaves -- in context with what God might have in store for the coming year or at least the coming season. My friend who was hosting immediately shot off the verse from Proverbs 13:12. ["http://www.biblegateway.com/verse/en/Proverbs%2013:12"]  I copied and pasted four prominent translations of it, and I have it on a wall behind my computer desk.

I gave the most weight to the King James version because it's well-known for its authority. But I soon found I had an issue with the phrase "when the desire cometh," because while other translations refer to a dream or a longing fulfilled, I don't know if it is necessarily what is meant.

I dug through the New Revised Standard Version, a reasonably authoritative translation, and I grabbed it because of its footnotes. Sure enough, it had one, for the "tree of life" phrase at the end. Tree of Life! These were exactly the words God gave me.

Briefly, if you're interested, here is the NRSV of that verse: "Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a desire fulfilled is a tree of life."

OK. In the footnotes, the NRSV directed me to two other biblical passages with those same exact words. Firstly, in Proverbs 3:18, ["http://www.biblegateway.com/verse/en/Proverbs%203:18"] it says "She [referring to wisdom] is a tree of life to those who lay hold of her; those who hold her fast are called happy." Secondly, in Proverbs 11:30, ["http://www.biblegateway.com/verse/en/Proverbs%2011:30"] it says "The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life. But violence takes lives away."

So then, my conclusion about the tree of life, the exact words God gave me, is this: it is not only a desire fulfilled, but wisdom, and also fruit of the righteous (which, as of right now, I'm referring to as righteous living).

I have questions, though. I wonder if that was the verse that was intended to go with the vision. Perhaps it was, but right now I'm not entirely convinced about the desire-being-fulfilled part. The wisdom and righteous-living aspects make just as much sense to me. Then again, lately I've been digging and finding desires deeper and longer-lasting than the woman-related desire. All I know is God's word is true and will be true; I just don't know how, and it's so easy to go nuts trying to analyze everything.