Trees as Gifts: A Lenten Reflection

Trees give us and other creatures many physical gifts: oxygen, medicine, food, materials for building, roots that prevent erosion, branches for perching, climbing, and hiding. Trees also give us many things that include but transcend the physical: beauty, wisdom, revelation, perspective, hope, models of stability, and “hints of gladness.”

As Mary Oliver writes in her poem “When I Am Among the Trees,”

When I am among the trees,

especially the willows and the honey locust,

equally the beech, the oaks and the pines,

they give off such hints of gladness.

I would almost say that they save me, and daily.

And yet so often we hurry past trees, ignoring them and taking them for granted as we go about our important, human lives. But without the gift of trees, our lives could not exist. We need trees to have a breathable life, whether physically, emotionally, or spiritually.

In the Hebrew Bible's account of creation, God made trees and saw that they were exceedingly delightful (tov meod in the original Hebrew).

Consider that God’s creation is ongoing, as in the words of poet Christian Wiman, “God goes belonging to every riven thing he’s made,” including trees, which “sing his being simply by being” what they are.

We are invited to join the song of the trees as they “sing for joy” before God their maker (Psalm 96:12). Trees are gifts because they lead us into awe, reverence, and worship.

Here are some questions for reflection:

• What gifts are you receiving from the trees in your life?

• How can you thank them?

• How can you emulate their generosity?