Daily Devotion - Monday, March 21

Trees

“I lift up my eyes to the hills—
from where will my help come?
My help comes from the Lord,
who made heaven and earth.”
--Psalm 121: 1, 2

The weekend kept calling us—come outside and enjoy the beauty of tulips and daffodils pushing up through the now thawed ground. Hints of springtime were evident everywhere this weekend. The birds were busy readying their houses and you could see the branches of the trees telling us that they were eager to bud. The heavens and the earth again remind us that there is a great rhythm at work. These days where tsunami and meltdowns of nuclear power appear to be center stage! It is good to take time and meditate, allowing springtime re-creation to remind us that there is a creative touch more powerful than those who wield words and weapons. Today a prayer by Margueritte Harmon Bro expresses our kinship with creation:

“We thank thee for Trees!
We thank thee for the trees of our childhood
In whose shade we played and read and dreamed;
For the trees of our schooldays,
The trees along the paths where friendship walked.
We thank thee for special trees
Which will always stand large in our memory
Because for some reason of our own, they became our trees.
We thank thee for the great stretches of trees, which make the forests.
May we always stand humbly before thy trees
And draw strength from them as they, in their turn,
Draw sustenance from thy bounties of earth and sun and air.”

A good Monday to you, friend!

--Ben Keckler
03.21.11