How Trees Can Teach Us About Spirituality

A few moments ago, I was in my back yard, watering a tree that had been neglected sorely by my daughter. My child has "watering" duty for the Trees and Plants around our house and as always she kept pushing this chore out. I had stuck to my guns not to do this for her, but today I finally gave up. The Rosebushes were starting to look real bad, the brushes turning brown and nobody was taking a moment to give them a drink of Water.

Mumbling obscenities under my breath I went outside to do the Mommy thing. Fine, I guess I am just going to do it myself. Inside I swore I would do this to her one day, make her go without drink for days. Of course we all know that is an empty threat, but I was satisfied thinking it anyway.

These poor plants had not seen a single drop of life giving water in almost 6 weeks and out here in the desert, that is almost a death sentence. As mentioned above, I could almost imagine the bushes and shrubs waving a white flag in surrender, but the Tree stood silent and stoic. Yes, it too was getting a bit browner around the edges, but it looked more like the natural fall shedding of its leafy coat. After I put the Water hose away, I returned to the Tree and studied it a bit closer.

Trees are marvelous. They can survive on so very little. They take only a bit and yet give back so much. They clean our air, giving us fresh oxygen to breath. They provide us with shade in the heat, sheltering us from the sun. They provide our children with entertainment as their branches are used for climbing on, strong limps for swings and even in the fall as we rake to leaves and put them in a pile, our kids find fun in jumping in the piles and throwing them about. The leaves become compost again returning to the Mother Earth what it took for nourishment to begin with.

A tree takes a long time to grow, it will not be hurried. It strives for the sun against all odds. Its roots go deep and even when uprooted tries to take new roots again in fresh soil.

I guess what I am trying to say is that our spirit should be like that Tree. Protective, playful, asking for only as much as it can return. Ever growing and maturing, long suffering and always willing to "re-root" in nourishing soil.

Have you ever watched a Tree in strong gusts of winds? Did you notice how it bends and sways with the storms? Only very strong Storms can take out a strong Tree. It has learned to go with the flow of the currents. To "ride" the storms of life. We humans are unbending, unyielding where as this giant of creation yields and bends willingly to whatever comes along. Should we perhaps learn to become more like the Tree? Not sitting by idle and let others threaten us, but learn to yield, move with the currents life throws at us.

A Tree gives shelter to many creatures regardless who they are or where they are from. The Tree doesn't care where this creature comes from. It just spreads out its branches and waits. Perhaps patience and acceptance should be something our spirit should learn from the Tree as well. Not only acceptance of others, but our own selves as well.

Trees have always held a position of 'teaching" for us. Look at the Tree of Life the Kabbalah teach us to use. This ancient wisdom has been around long before the age of Christ and has been accepted in many different religions. The Tree of life with its 10 fields teaches as everything there is from the Crown its first field to the Kingdom in its 10^th. "A Wish Can change your Life" by Gahl Sasson and Steve Weinstein, teaches us how to use the 10 Spheres of the tree of life to understand our life better and to bring into fulfillment those wishes.

Trees have held a special place in Religion throughout History as well. Look at the Tree of Life that bore the Apple which got Adam and Eve in trouble as told to us in the beautiful mythological story the bible tells. Another is the Bodhi Tree of the Buddha. Native peoples begift us with their stories of the Dream Tree native to the Aborigines. The Sioux's swear to the first man being a tree who learned to walk. Don't forget Odin's tree either!

Trees are often credited with magical powers. See the Rowan Tree and its magical properties. It's myth of being the Mother of all Trees. It's gift of protection for us.

I bet you have memories from your youth that involve trees in some way. How many boys have dreamed of owning a Tree House? How many have climbed an Apple Tree or kissed their Sweethearts beneath one. What about the Christmas tree most faithfully decorate each year?

I want to leave you with a quote by The Talmud: "If you are planting a tree and someone arrives and tells you that the Messiah has come, you should first finish planting your tree and only when you are done go out and see if the Messiah is in fact there."