Christian Living
I think that I shall never see,
A poem lovely as a tree....
Poems are made by fools like me,
But only God can make a tree.
Sgt. Alfred Joyce Kilmer - February 2, 1913.
What makes a boy or girl want to climb a tree? And what makes a senior sometimes wish he were a kid again so he could climb a tree?
A tree is a challenge. It represents a quick means of escape--not from wild animals, as perhaps our ancestors had to do, but from the earth, from the normal, from the pain of reality and cruelties of life!
To a child the excitement of the climb is that natural urge to get to the top-- to see further--and to dream about things, to let the imagination run wild.
Trees are friends. They give pleasant shade, under which to have a picnic, pitch a tent, sit and read or daydream, or for a child, to throw darts at. Trees have a part in all fun outdoor times for a child, and even for an adult.
Have you ever stood and looked in awe at a mighty tree that has been felled by a storm? It leaves us even more impressed at its size--with the actual volume and weight which was, until now, balanced perfectly in the air above us.
Listen to the happy sound of children’s voices as they climb a tree-–the excited shouts and gleeful calling as a new plateau is reached.
Why does a boy—or a girl--climb a tree? We can only guess--or reminisce. Like the climb in life, the going up is good. It is invigorating. The view from the top of a new height is like looking at the earth through lower clouds from a plane.
But the return to earth from the top of the tree is more difficult. It requires the utmost care and agility to avoid a fall, and that good barefooted thud on Mother Earth is sweet again. Watching a child climb a tree brings back sweet memories from childhood. Perhaps it is the memory of our mother's call to meals...to change clothes...or even the dreaded call of "bedtime." Who knows?
A tree is a boy’s (or a tomboy’s) good friend. If the family suddenly moves to a new neighbourhood, or a new country – there is always a familiar tree to stretch a child’s aching heart around – and new trees to explore.
I am a man with a wealth of rich memories of a childhood spent "living with the squirrels in the Hazelnut trees,” and the giant maples, standing tall, shutting out the sky along our driveway. I spent much of my childhood in trees--sometimes falling out of them. I vividly remember the sting of iodine being tenderly dabbed on my wounds. (Iodine can’t be dabbed tenderly!).
Even now, I get excited every spring with the soft greens of the new foliage of the deciduous trees, and again each fall, when brilliant foliage colours the whole south western forest.”
People have their own ways of looking at trees. For some they are the key that unlocks childhood memories. To a child they represent adventure.
From any point of view, all agree that trees are things of beauty and importance, worth planting and worth preserving. And we realize afresh that "Only God can make a tree."
And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water. Psalm 1:3a.
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