The sheltering bald cypress tree.
My parents have a large bald cypress tree in their front yard. Its branches extend to the street and over the house. The bird feeder under the tree is popular place for robins, sparrows, cardinals, blue birds, and many others. Rabbits and squirrels come around eat the seed that falls from the feeder.
Stepping away from my everyday life, I recently went back home to northeast Missouri and spent a few days with my parents where the room I sleep in is next to the tree. Early in the morning I would awaken to the sounds of the birds singing happily as they gathered under the tree for their morning meal.
Buddy eats a piece of bread.
Later in the morning, I’d take time to relax on the front porch and watch not only the birds, but the rabbits and squirrels that would come to the tree. My mother regularly feeds them, and has even named the regulars. There’s Buddy, a squirrel who was very thin and appeared to have some kind of back injury when he first came to the tree, but has been fattened up with Sunbeam bread and now bears little trace of his injury. He’s been joined by Big Nose Kate (Doc Holiday’s girlfriend in Tombstone), Spot (named for the white spot on his chest), Roddy (the Rodent), and a few other squirrels. My family jokes that Buddy has invited his friends and family to come eat at the “best restaurant in town.”
My mother calls the tree a “happy place.” And it is. Sitting there, watching these small creatures take refuge under the shelter of the tree as they enjoy the available provisions, reminded me to slow down and take time to marvel at God’s creation. I could not help but bring to mind Matthew 6:25-26, “For this reason I say to you, do not be worried about your life, as to what you will eat or what you will drink; nor for your body, as to what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air, that they do not sow, nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not worth much more than they?” How much I could learn from these little creatures.
Watching them as they moved about without a care in the world caused me to think how complicated I have a habit of making things, and about the lesson the little birds and squirrels were teaching me.
One day, a storm came through town in the early morning hours and several limbs were blown from trees blocking roads and causing power outages. But the bald cypress remained strong and provided shelter in its branches. When the storm had passed, everyone was back under the tree’s sheltering shade. Oh, how God is so much more to us than that tree!
As David wrote long ago in Psalm 91:1-2, “He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say to the Lord, ‘My refuge and my fortress, My God, in whom I trust!’” The entire chapter is a reminder of the peace and security only God provides.
The tree is my mother’s thinking place, a respite from the stress of life. It was the same for me in my time there. A place to slow down and delight in God’s goodness.
– LMS
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