Trees Talk. Can You Hear Them?

I saw this beautiful magnolia tree on the way to Lancaster a few years ago. It was alive with life and it's lovely blooms were a delight to behold.  

Today's post is from a devotion I read recently by Phillip Keller from his book, Songs From My Soul. In this beautiful month of May, I thought it would be a fine thing to think on.

"Even the sparrow has found a home, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may have her young--a place near your altar, O Lord almighty, my King and my God."  Psalm 84:3

                 Nothing quite stirs the soul as springtime when all nature comes alive with beauty.

"There are certain values in life that money and material wealth can never purchase. Gold and silver, stocks and bonds, bank accounts and investment securities are not sufficient to assure peace of mind or serenity of spirit.

"What price can be placed upon a life of simplicity, free from the fret and strain of trying to keep pace in a man-killing society? What will a person give in exchange for the quiet ecstasy of living gently in harmony with the seasons? What consolation can surpass that of the secure inner assurance that this indeed is my Father's world, in which He cares for me with intense personal interest?

 I saw many seasons with this tree as I drove back and forth to work morning and night. It was a sight I drank in as it stood in all it's glory, whether spring, summer, fall or winter.

"I am constantly reminded that this caring is not confined or directed only toward us human beings. It embraces and enfolds the whole world around us: the trees and shrubs, with their foliage shining in the sun; the soft, sweet, fragrant grasses and flowers that flourish on our hills; the birds that build their nests and rear their young all around us; the insects that hum in the sun and flit across the lake; the wild deer and mountain sheep and mink and beavers and bears whose realm we share. All these remind us that we are friends and neighbors. As the ancient Indians would say, we are all 'brothers beneath the sun.'

I can still hear the rustling of the leaves as they fell to the ground.

The vibrant yellows, red and rust were beautiful.

"We delude ourselves if we believe our Father cares only for human beings. His assurance to us is otherwise. It is He who clothes the flowers of the field in great glory; He knows when a fledgling falls. He's the Creator of all!"

If you've never read Phillip Keller's Lessons From a Sheepdog I highly recommend it.

                    A lone tree in the dead of winter. Enchanting. Mystical. The season of winter.

"If you have never heard the mountains singing, or seen the trees of the field clapping their hands, do not think because of that they don't. Ask God to open your ears so you may hear it and your eyes so you may see it, because, though few men ever know it, they do my friend, they do." McCandlish Phillips