Reflect
Depending on where you live in the country, you might have forested areas near you, perhaps with trails or places to camp out. Even if you don’t, though, simply imagining an expanse of trees, ridges, and streams can be a calm-inducing exercise. The quiet nobility of the trees, the songs and sounds of the forest, and the sensation of being surrounded by a pulsing lifeforce all combine for what can be a sublime spiritual experience, if we open ourselves up to it.
Pray
God, creator of the redwoods, oaks, pines, and palms,
We ask you to breath in us your healing spiritual oxygen,
Much as your leafy creations supply us with actual oxygen.
An acorn and the Amazon: Each contains the sacred potential for life.
Help us to remember that a tree is like a person, seemingly individual,
But at its roots—and ours—the holy truth is that it is inseparable from the forest,
As we are inseparable from each other in the body of Christ.
May this prayer float up to you in the same way that the sweet songs of the birds do
every day up in the boughs of trees.
Act
If you can make it to a forested area today, allow yourself to soak in the oxygen and calm that are in abundance. If you aren’t near a woodland or the weather isn’t cooperating, consider donating to an environmental cause that protects forests, or, if you in more of a meditative mood, find an image online of a tree that you find beautiful, and use it as inspiration in your prayer life.
