One Thousand & Twenty-Five Trees

Then God said, “Let the land sprout with vegetation—every sort of seed-bearing plant, and trees that grow seed-bearing fruit. These seeds will then produce the kinds of plants and trees from which they came.” And that is what happened. The land produced vegetation—all sorts of seed-bearing plants, and trees with seed-bearing fruit. Their seeds produced plants and trees of the same kind. And God saw that it was good. -Genesis 1:11-12

I am fascinated by trees.  Maybe it’s because I grew up in California where trees are rare, and in some areas are protected by law.  Maybe it’s because of Earth Day.  

I have vivid memories of celebrating one in the 1970’s.  I was seven years old and in third grade.  I loved my teacher that year, Mrs. Cutler at Justin Elementary School.  To celebrate Earth Day, we gathered on the front lawn and planted a tree. 

The picture in my memory is of a bright, sunny, yellow morning sky, and a large grassy area at the center of the school buildings.  Like most of the suburbs of Los Angeles, there were few trees, so there was plenty of room to plant this one.  The flagpole where we took turns raising the flag each morning stood off to one side, and we planted our Earth Day tree right in the center.

I don’t know what sort of tree we planted, or whether it’s even still there, since that was about 50 years ago, but ever since, that’s what I’ve wanted to do again on Earth Day.

Ok, to be truly honest, the obsession with planting trees is a recent resurgence.  Most of the Earth Days of my adult life have been spent busily doing whatever was on my to-do list for that day at whatever job I was working at the time. 

So what has changed now?  Maybe it’s this pandemic year when we’ve had more time and space to consider and remember and refocus.  Maybe it’s the growing urgency of paying attention to our rapidly changing climate.  Maybe it’s that we now live in a house we own, and we have the freedom to decide what happens with our yard.  Maybe it’s that we live in Kansas now, where there are less trees.

My connection with trees is not without foundation.  The Bible is framed by trees, beginning with the Garden of Eden in Genesis and ending with the new heaven and new earth in Revelation: 

Tree of Life by Gayla Irwin

Then the angel showed me a river with the water of life, clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb. It flowed down the center of the main street. On each side of the river grew a tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, with a fresh crop each month. The leaves were used for medicine to heal the nations. – Revelation 22:1-2

Psalm 1 and Jeremiah 17:7-8 compare those who hope in the Lord to trees planted by water.  These trees are symbols of stability and faithfulness.  They remind us that seasons will come and go, but God’s love goes on forever.

And planting trees helps the earth.  According to Saving Nature, we can each plant 1025 trees to fully offset our carbon footprint. That's a LOT of trees.  I haven’t figured out how to do that yet, but today we’re starting with one.  

Isn’t that how everything starts?

What one thing will you do today to honor God’s creation and help the earth?

May you enjoy the beauty of God's creation today and always, and may God bless you in all you do.