By David Williamson.
One of our favorite half-day ventures is the University of Minnesota Landscape Arboretum, a short distance from our home. We enjoy it throughout the year, in full growth at the middle of summer, a brilliant array of colors in the autumn, with blooming and flowering trees in spring, and even picturesque (there are firs) in the winter. It provides pleasure year-round.
It makes me think of all the people – arborists and gardeners, not to mention all those in adjacent professions as well as those who handle administrative and organizational tasks – whose work I am seeing when I enjoy the beauty of the trees. While driving through the arboretum recently, I noticed several people working in the tall trees. They were applying their expertise to develop, nurture and eventually harvest these trees.
Trees were part of the original natural world God gave to humanity, and the first human couple was assigned the work of caring for a garden that (notoriously) had two trees at the center. The work of maintaining a forest is one of the clearest continuations of this original vocation, enhancing the growth of useful and beautiful wood. There is also the work of sharing enjoyment of the woods with others – enjoyment of their natural beauty, as well as vitally important construction maternal.
I enjoy a really good Honey Crisp apple in the fall, as well as a beautiful wooded landscape.
Well maintained wood and its products are important throughout the Bible. Robert Banks, in a marvelous book, God the Worker (Judson Press, 1994) reminds us that ancient Israel was an agricultural society built around the family farm and the calendar of seedtime and harvest. This is why it was a land flowing with milk and honey (Exodus 3:8 & 17).
Israel had to find the best timber – often cedar – for strong, durable construction of the temple, also providing natural beauty to honor the beauty of the Lord. The text also emphasizes how they searched out the right wood for buildings to honor civic leaders, and provide safe and secure dwelling places, not to mention its appreciation of trees as part of the beauty God provided in the natural world.
Growing things contribute to the civic well-being of the places where we live and work. And the natural beauty of growing things, stewarded by human work, adds to our enjoyment of life and all of God’s gifts.
Growing and using the products of the landscape remind us of our connection to, and dependence upon, the natural world. This is a healthy participation with God in all of God’s creation. As we work the forest or garden, we join in a small way with God’s purpose. We may even have a sense of working with God in the natural countryside, sharing his his work and contributing our own particular skills. What a joy and privilege!
One of the tasks of a skilled arborist or gardener is to prune growth when this is necessary or beneficial. It takes extra care and thoughtfulness to prune that which will enhance growth, taking neither too much nor too little. Wise and good consultation with others is needed.
God formed the land and gives it to his creates to manage and bring forth his products. God prepares the soil, and provides humans to work it, so it will receive the seed. He provides the rain to bring forth, in season, its intended products to serve human needs. God provides the farmer to nurture and prune the land to maximize its productivity.
Banks references his own experience growing up on a farm, and describes climbing on a tractor and feeling close to the earth, with a profound responsibility to care for the earth. The original gardener is always present in every garden, woods and orchard. Caring for creation is our responsibility and privilege; may it be our joy as well.
The Green Room 