On August 18th, I led a guided imagery meditation on trees for the Time for All Ages. It was from the multigenerational Tapestry of Faith program Circle of Trees.
For the August 11th all ages RE lesson I had led that same meditation. Afterwards, some of us shared our thoughts about the trees we were imagining. Here is my vision, in much more detail than I offered in class.
When I was a choir member in this church back in the late nineties, I used to gaze out at the magnificent live oaks to the north of our sanctuary. When we had the time for prayer or meditation I gazed at those trees and imagined the passage of time that had been going on for so long before I was born. I thought about people from long ago resting in the shade of those live oaks. It gave me the same feeling I had had when I was a child reading books that transported me to other worlds. Could I time travel? Could I fly like Peter Pan? Could I stumble upon some magical doorway?
When I was fifteen I felt drawn to dance in the moonlight under a truly towering pine tree. I brought my cassette player outside to the grounds of the church next door. I danced, feeling connected to that tree that almost seemed to touch the full moon.
I grew up in a place (Flat Rock, North Carolina) where cutting down trees was met with fierce opposition. Like the pine next door, these were some really tall trees. The trees here in Texas are a little disappointing, height-wise. But at least we have them. I could never live anywhere I couldn’t see trees.
When all of the RE students came back down to earth from our tree meditation, people had questions. Does the new property have trees? Yes, I could assure them. There is actually a circle of trees. I love that this is a group of people who require trees.
I am so excited for this new property. I don’t know how everything will turn out. But we have trees. A circle of them. That's a great place to start.
Comments