I think there’s a lot to learn about self-confidence and knowing who you are from trees. When you think about it a tree is pretty cool. Like socially cool. Trees are cool kids.

They are big and confident in who they are. They are stylish but not showy. They are firm and rooted, but they also bustle and move all the time. I think a tree really knows what it is, and it isn’t afraid to show it. But, also, it doesn’t care if you’re impressed. It isn’t rustling its leaves for any reason other than that’s what trees do.

A tree knows what it’s about. It’s happy to have your company but is also completely fine being on its own. We are constantly relying on trees in our world –– they are the lungs of the earth, they are the bones of our homes and much of our furniture, they are the backdrop of many landscapes and the paradigm of nature for many of us.

I found myself thinking about trees and what it means to commune with them this week. Trees can be unimaginably old, like the bristlecone pines in the American West.

Trees can be gigantic and overwhelming in their size, like roofs of the Earth that cover huge areas.

Trees can make amazing neighborhoods, spanning out crowns that create borders and negotiating space in uncommon ways.

For how amazing they are, trees are easy to miss. They often surround us, but maybe we go through weeks and weeks without thinking about them at all. What would it be like to notice, to observe, to really, really see these beings that surround us make of sinewy wood and lattice-shaped leaves?

If you are with us on Sunday, we’ll have a chance to experience trees in a new way, sensing them, sensing ourselves. If you are with us for worship, I hope you’ll join in a chance to sit in nature, to observe the easily-ignored trees around us.

Sometimes it is hard to tap into our spiritual selves or find time to nurture our creativity and intellectual curiosity. Here is a section that reflects on some nourishing materials from around the web and related media channels in order to get us thinking, get us feeling, and get us reflecting on the lives we are living in this big world. **Some Adult/Mature Themes May Appear in Links and Other Attached Material**

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Allan T. Georgia, MDiv, MTS, PhD

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