How do I love trees? Let me count the ways…

A few years ago, I had the pleasure of writing an article for Gratefulness about trees. Here’s an excerpt that speaks to my love of trees:

“Decades earlier, during a time in my life when I had been struggling with the rigidity of mainstream faith traditions I experienced something I had never felt before while leaning against a sprawling old maple tree. Suddenly I felt a warm, steady surge coursing through my entire body. It lasted less than a minute, but it felt like hours. It was powerful, private and I knew from someplace within me that what I had just received was without question, deeply spiritual and it came from the very tree I was “visiting.”

These days even though I’m nestled peacefully within a wonderful faith community where worship is deep and meaningful, I seek still the church of the canopies and roots, in trees standing silent and casting their strength and Spirit. It makes me smile to know that all I have to do is go looking, expecting and wait.”