Take the World into My Arms

“When it’s over, I want to say: all my life I was a bride married to amazement. I was the bridegroom, taking the world into my arms.” (Mary Oliver)

I have often wondered about how it would feel to be a literal tree-hugger, to throw my arms around a strong tree trunk and say “thank you” for every bit of life you give to the earth. I have often wondered about how it would feel to climb a tall tree, to recline in its branches and to say “thank you” for your shelter and your beauty.

I know I’m weird, but I stand in wonder at the way tree leaves change their colors in the sunlight, glowing amber and orange and red and burgundy against the bright blue of a clear autumn sky. They comfort me. They leave me in awe. They let me experience the wonderment of the showy spectacle. And when the wind blows and I hear the trees rustling in the breeze, when I hear the dry leaves crunch beneath my feet, I am fully smitten.

My only and best response is to thank God for the trees of the earth in all their splendor. And then to “take the world into my arms,” as Mary Oliver says.

Trees are gifts to me from a loving God. “Every good and perfect gift comes down from the Father of lights, in whom there is no variableness neither shadow of turning.” (James 1:17)