December Prayers | On Trees
Dear Friends,
This Advent, Karen is focusing our attention on various trees and the meaning they hold in relation to the coming Christ. Whether we notice them or not, trees are the constant sentinels of our lives. They mark the seasons and the passing years with steadfast endurance. They give of themselves faithfully: fruit, shade, shelter and firewood. This month, we’ll be burning them in our hearths and many of us decorating one in our homes. Take a moment, perhaps sitting next to one, to offer gratitude for these nature-friends.
“The fruit of the righteous is the tree of life.”
TREES
Blessed be you Tree of Life
with your roots reaching down to the dark center of the universe,
your leaves yeanring towards the light beyond heaven.
Shelter me with all your creation as I rise up this day.
Praise to you Ancient and Strong,
for the wild sanctuary of the wood
where I can praise you midst the barky columns
and the branch-beamed roof.
Praise even for the fearsome darkness of the forest
where I can lose my way for there are no roads.
Show me your awesome presence in the temples of trees
and reveal your beauty when I am overwhelmed by unknowing,
so I may praise you on the pathless way.
Source of all Being,
you know my little dyings; you know my greening and renewal.
You know every inch of every ring within the trunk of my life.
You know the spiral of my inner ways.
May your Spirit blow through my leaves this day
that my prayer might inhale heaven as I exhale on earth.
May your Spirit be the sap that fees my roots when my energy descends.
May your Spirit be the love tha tturns my leaves to flames,
as a quieter passion flares with aging loveliness before it falls.
May your Spirit make me receptive to all I must let go,
like the soil that is nourished by the dropping leaf.
May your Spirit bless me in my diminishing like the toadstool at my feet
releasing goodness as it withers, beyond where the eye can see.
Source of all, you turn the circle of the earth, of my life, of this day.
Come with your windfall grace as I offer you my day.
Sheltering God, you grow a love in us greater than acorn to oak,
more surprising than the smooth mahogany of conker after spikycase,
more healing than the willow’s graceful bend by stream,
more transforming than the long life of yew, more evergreen than holly,
wiser than hazel, more joyful than vine, more stable than beech;
began even before birch, more eternal and wondrous than apple,
more trusty than oak, are you, O Sheltering One.
Make your love more real than a great might tree for…….
May we feel your strength as we lean against you
and know your sheltering at the beginning of this day.
-Tess Ward, The Celtic Wheel of the Year