Maybe it’s because years later, when my family felt like a wreck, the small grove of trees next to Grandma and Grandpa’s farmhouse was a haven in which to cry and hide.
Maybe it’s because on my first visit to PrairieWoods Franciscan Spirituality Center, I made the short trek to a gorgeous, old tree named Grandmother Oak and held my hand to her trunk, feeling as though she was holding me during a turbulent time.
Whatever the reason, I love trees. So when they show up in scripture, I consider it an invitation to pay close attention.
Take just a moment now and call to your mind’s eye your favorite tree. It may be a tree from your present or a tree from your past. Can you see it? Close your eyes and just sit with that tree, taking some deep breaths as you do.
In our first reading this morning, God speaks through the prophet Jeremiah:
Blessed are those who trust in the Lord, whose trust is the Lord. They shall be like a tree planted by water, sending out its roots by the stream. It shall not fear when heat comes, and its leaves shall stay green; in the year of drought it is not anxious, and it does not cease to bear fruit.
While there are a lot of contenders for my favorite pieces of scripture, these verses rank right up there. I know the familiar Sunday School tune is, “I just want to be a sheep,” but today I just want to be a tree. Just reading this description of a tree planted by water starts to mend my frayed nerves and slow my racing mind.
It shall not fear when heat comes, and its leaves shall stay green;
in the year of drought it is not anxious, and it does not cease to bear fruit.
The heat comes. The year of drought hits hard. It’s not that these reasons to fear aren’t happening. They are. But the tree survives – even thrives – because it is planted by water and its roots know the way to the stream. Even in an anxious time, the tree has what it needs to live and to bear fruit.
Those who trust in the Lord – we who trust in the Lord – even in an anxious time, have what we need to live and to bear fruit. Green leaves – healthy, growing leaves – harvest the light of the sun, turning it into food. Chlorophyll absorbs the red and blue light from sunlight but reflects the green light. We who trust in the Lord both absorb and reflect the light of Christ. We rely on God for our energy, our growth, our life, our very breath. And trusting God above all else, we freely give back, to all in our orbit, the light and love that we have so freely been given.
They shall be like a tree planted by water, sending out its roots by the stream…
in the year of drought it is not anxious, and it does not cease to bear fruit.
This tree is deeply rooted where it is planted. Its strong roots, both anchoring and absorbent, are drawn to the water that continues to flow, even when rain is scarce. It has what it needs to survive and to spread, its seeds scattered near and far by those creatures the tree feeds with its fruit.
Those who trust in the Lord – we who trust in the Lord – drink of the living water that Jesus gives. We’re held fast in the love of our Savior. In our feeding others, we flourish. In our giving away, we grow. God is at work through us to work new life in the lives of all we encounter. I just want to be a tree. How about you? Do you want to sing with me?
In his book, Sprout Lands: Tending the Endless Gift of Trees, William Bryan Logan describes a scene that I’d like to share with you. He writes, “On posts in the industrial harbor of Pasaia near San Sebastian in Spain, the administration has put up a wonderful sign to discourage people from dumping into the water. It tells how long it takes most kinds of leavings to return to the earth. Organic material goes quickly: cardboard in three months, wood in one to three years, a pair of wool socks in one to five years, an apple core in two. From there, the time mounts up. A cigarette butt may take a decade, a plastic shopping bag ten to twenty years, a plastic cup fifty. All of these are at least within the range of a human lifetime. Not so the major industrial materials. An aluminum can is with us for two hundred years, a glass bottle for five hundred, a plastic bottle for seven hundred, and a Styrofoam container for a millennium. The sign is written in Basque and Spanish. Its legend reads ‘Ez daukagu B Planetarik,’ ‘No hay planeta B.’ (‘There is no Planet B.’)
And then the author continues, “The forest does not think this. It just acts as though it were so. Because it is so good at sprouting, resprouting, repeating, reseeding, it can keep up the living and dying for as long as it takes, even if that is a thousand years…the trees…are up to it. The trees are not conscious. They are something better. They are present.” (p. 302)
Let us be present both to the work that has been given to us and to the steadfast presence of God who makes all our work possible. Let us be fully present to the heat and the drought, the fear and the anxiety of our world, while continuing to drink living water and relying on the ever-flowing love of God. Let us be present to the light of Christ, absorbing it into our being and reflecting it for all the world to see.
Let us pray.
Eternal and life-giving God, be our trust this day and every day to come, that we might be fully present in our lives and yet unafraid to feed the whole world with the fruit we produce only through you. Amen.