A prayer for our trees and forests

I lift my eyes to the trees. Majestic canopy in city square, flourishing in a field hedge, thorn on a rocky outcrop. I shuffle leaves, pick fruit and plant acorns. But I like wood floors, beams in cathedrals and old ships. Forests are fought over and industrial logging endangers all life. Yet as biblical people met God under landmark trees, all creation meets heaven on the Cross. That tree of life, love, death and hope. Forever attractive to artists, trees yield new truths to science every day; their rings tell secrets of the long past; their roots talk along a web. Home to diverse creatures and, best of all, they capture carbon. Creator God, turn my awe for trees into respectful living.

Helen Caine, supernumerary presbyter, North Cheshire Circuit