Pine Trees Full of Life
I missed the last writing prompt for Hinged in 2021. The prompt was pine trees. No worries, the next edition to that wonderful magazine will be back in 2022(just a few weeks). Still, I will write a little to reflect on the amazing being of the pine tree. I will expand from the pine tree to the broader group of similar trees in the biological family of Pinaceae to help develop points, so hope you enjoy it.
First, some amazing facts about these trees. There are over 120 different species of pines. They can grow to be anywhere from 3 to 80 meters(50 to 150 feet) tall. Forming the largest family of conifers(or Pinaceae, the official biological family name)pine trees can thrive in numerous environments. Many around the world have come to recognize pine trees as some of those beings ever dwelling in the background of their lives. From their beautiful scent to amazing pine cones, how wondrous these creatures be.
Not surprisingly, pine trees have immeasurable spiritual and cultural significance as well. As so much of the globe is immersed in the holiday season now, countless evergreen trees from the family of Pinaceae(including pines and others) pop up on every corner as Christmas(or more broadly, holiday) trees. They also pop up in millions of homes around the globe. Whatever one’s spiritual or religious perspective, these trees become one common symbol for numerous different realities and principles celebrated by various religious traditions and holidays. In recent centuries in the Western world, the pine tree and its common relatives became a key symbol for Christian values and even an icon of the Divine. The Christmas tree was borrowed from other faiths, but then served as a reminder of the new beginnings and new spiritual life promised by Christianity(as well as other religious traditions). Soon, the trees also became a cultural symbol of family and celebration. In Victorian Britain, Queen Victoria and Prince Albert popularized the Christmas tree with its decorations, candles, and sweets. Soon the custom caught steam in other nations around the world, including the U.S.
One of the holiday songs most connected to the holiday tree is Oh Christmas Tree. The Christmas carol Oh Christmas Tree has always been one of my favorites. Other carols and hymns certainly are among my favorites as well. Many attest to the miraculous and spiritual realities of the season, like the birth of Jesus or angels appearing from their spiritual, non-physical realm. The words of Oh Christmas Tree, however, simply testify to the immeasurable beauty of the very physical and earthly evergreen tree which carries its own sacred value:
O Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree,
How steadfast are your branches!
Your boughs are green in summer’s clime
And through the snows of wintertime.
O Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree,
How steadfast are your branches!
In our daily lives that easily start to seem mundane and inconsequential, we need music or art like this to remind us of the miracles present all around. Isn’t it simply numinous that these trees stay fresh and green throughout the year while other trees shed their leaves? This simple amazing reality is part of a whole universe of wonders — like the immeasurable beauty of stars shining at night and the miracle of each one of us being here at all. By savoring the infinite riches present in each second, both during the holiday season and throughout the year, we remember the immeasurable value of things. Also, the simple savoring of riches like the pine tree, along with the pondering of mysterious miracles from beyond like the season’s stories of angels and wise men visiting a babe in a manger and love, can help us to connect to not even one small part of what is sacred and Divine at the heart of things.
So, as this holiday season is now officially here, I hope this small writing about pine trees(and related trees in the family) has brought you some enjoyment, enrichment, and perhaps even some inspiration to ponder these amazing beings a little more. I have hardly scratched away from the surface here, as the pine tree or countless other types of trees are symbols for countless different things. What might the pine tree, or countless other types of trees, symbolize at other times of the year? What place do trees have in various religious or cultural traditions from countless different times and places? How might each of us come to value trees in our own personal lives and from our own points of view?
Like so many other people, I have found pine trees to be so wondrous and beautiful. As a lifelong resident of Iowa, I have never been able to get enough of them. They provide such vast shade and coolness in Iowa’s humid summers. In cold Iowa winters, they never cease to marvel passerbys with their immeasurable beauty as snow and ice decorate each of their bristles and branches. Whenever I see such a marvelous tree(and the same goes for other types), it is almost as if I can see its roots stretching a little deeper into the ground as the tree works to reach its branches a little higher into the boundless sky. During this holiday season where many may seem down or broken by the current frightening times, prayers each of us can be as fortunate as these trees. How might this season help each of us to stretch our roots a little deeper into the soil that nurtures us while we simultaneously dare to reach for the stars?
