Trees

I sat outside early, drinking coffee in the company of trees. Trees bring a sense of peace with them. They share their leaves in the seasons of growth, drop these same leaves in the fall, stand with bare branches through the cold of winter. The rough bark, protecting the living wood and sap within. From below, the roots receive and bring nourishment to the whole lovely tree.

Isaiah 41:19-20

19 I will put in the desert the cedar and the acacia, the myrtle and the olive. I will set junipers in the wasteland, the fir and the cypress together, 20 so that people may see and know, may consider and understand, that the hand of the Lord has done this, that the Holy One of Israel has created it.

NIV Isaiah 41:19-20

The scripture brings to mind this poem by farmer poet Wendell Berry:

I go among trees and sit still. All my stirring becomes quiet around me like circles on water. My tasks lie in their places where I left them, asleep like cattle. Then what is afraid of me comes and lives a while in my sight. What it fears in me leaves me, and the fear of me leaves it. It sings, and I hear its song. Then what I am afraid of comes. I live for a while in its sight. What I fear in it leaves it, and the fear of it leaves me. It sings, and I hear its song. After days of labor, mute in my consternations, I hear my song at last, and I sing it. As we sing, the day turns, the trees move.

Wendell Berry in This Day: Sabbath Poems Collected & New, 1979-2013published by Counter Point Press.