I remember watching a series where pioneers were settling in the west and one episode was called Trees. In order to farm they had to painstakingly dig out and remove the many trees on their land. It showed too, several years later where they had to replant trees because they were needed for shade, protection and to keep the soil from eroding. Trees had a huge impact on their lives.
I guess like everything in nature there is good and bad that can happen. Rain is wonderful to feed crops but can be devastating to properties if it comes down in a deluge where cars, houses and sometimes people float away. The ocean is amazingly beautiful but when a hurricane comes the ocean can ravage the coastline. And trees can fall on houses or electric lines creating a lot of damage during storms.
Even with all that some people take solace in the ocean; it is home to them. Others love a gentle rain finding pitter-patter of raindrops on the roof soothes their soul.
For me, my solace is in trees. No matter how stressful a day or events become, trees give me comfort. They relax me. Even at night, when I am out with my dog, Oliver, I will shine my flashlight on them, and they instantly create a calm…a peacefulness in me.
I would hardly call myself a “tree-hugger”, but I have to admit, one day while walking out back I reached over and hugged a branch of a white pine. I was just so happy as I listened to the wind winding its way through the stretches of pines, poplars, birches and maples lining the back of the property that I could not control myself!
The majority of my life, I had lived in the suburbs of Chicago where concrete outweighs nature. But even there I had my little plot in my backyard filled with grass, hostas and flowers which were bordered by feeble-looking trees. That yard brought me peace in all the chaos of suburban life.
When I worked, I struggled to concentrate and keep my eyes open in long meetings or seminars. My solution was to doodle…always trees. My bosses, who originally frowned at the practice, came to understand that drawing trees enhanced my focus.
As a matter of fact, I had one boss (who was dear to my heart) that when I was not looking would scribble in purple ink on my tree doodle and then expect me to create something out of his doodle! I don’t remember many but the first one I think I made it into a kite.
Recent numbers say that there are over 73,300 species of trees globally! (My guess is I am familiar with less than 30.) Wow! Why on earth did God create so many species?? He could have easily created 10 that would be able to live in all climates. Just like He could have given us a black and white world…we would never know the difference. Why has God created so much variety in all living things?
Those are things I ponder.
My thinking is because He loves us so much that He knew we would struggle to understand that He is all Good, Immutable, Almighty, Omnipresent, Omnipotent, all Knowing, the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. (How could our limited minds understand all that and how much more that He is?)
Because we would not be able to grasp all of what God is, I believe He wanted to give us a glimpse of His Great Majesty. So, when I look at trees, that is what I see…the Great Majesty of God.
Ps. I may be a little strange, but I also see God’s Majesty in a blade of grass too!
“But blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord, whose confidence is in Him. They will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream. It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green. Jeremiah 17:7-8
“But ask the animals, and they will teach you, or the birds in the sky, and they will tell you; or speak to the earth, and it will teach you, or let the fish in the sea inform you. Which of all these does not know that the hand of the Lord has done this? In His hand is the life of every creature and the breath of all mankind.” Job 12:7-10