Climbing Trees To God

Shawn, Iliana, and I went on a walk this evening after dinner. We do that often. It’s sort of our family tradition.We stopped to enjoy one of our favorite groves of trees nearby where we lived. We sat on a park bench and all looked up to the trees and the sky so we could experience them. The trees swayed gently in the breeze. Silence seeped into our souls. Peace. Iliana broke the silence with, “Mommy and Daddy, I want to climb a tree to God.” What a beauty-full thought. Trees pointing upward, symbolically pointing toward God and the heavens.

Do we need to climb some trees to God? What turns our souls toward God?

Earlier this year I was in the Rocky Mountains at St. Malo Retreat Center. I remember listening to the wind sing through the trees. I was enamored with the chapel on the grounds, too. I remember turning to leave the chapel and looking at the ground as I climbed down the steps. I nearly forgot what beauty was smack in front of my face: Mount Meeker–nearly 14,000 ft. tall. They call those fourteeners. It was a fourteener and I was missing the peak and the beauty smack dab in front of me because I was looking down. I temporarily forgot to look up!

Gazing upon Mt. Meeker is like climbing a tree to God. It reminded me of strength–of God being our fortress. I could gaze and gaze and gaze at it. And I did during the retreat for almost an hour. I thought of many of the metaphors in Scripture that had to do with mountains. But my point is that I had to look up, to remember to look up, like we looked up at the trees this evening. Looking up and climbing to God.

As we go through our days, let us think about what turns our gaze upward toward God. Let us climb “these trees” to him. And let’s remember, like I needed to remember, to look up!