Lynne Baab

Praying about the flow of time: Trees, Earth Day, and Easter

Lynne Baab • Tuesday April 8 2025

I have positioned my desk so I can look over the top of my laptop screen into our backyard. Close to my window, on the left, is a golden rain tree. Right now, in early spring, its new baby leaves are a vivid red. In the back right corner of our yard is a 100-foot-tall Western red cedar, so tall that I can’t see its top through my large window. To the right of the cedar, in other people’s yards, I can see numerous other trees, including three tall Douglas firs (not as tall as our cedar), some deciduous trees, and another Western red cedar.

I love trees. My view of trees as I write lifts my heart.

Many states celebrate Arbor Day on the same day as National Arbor Day, the last Friday in April. Other states have their own Arbor Day. For us here in Washington State, we celebrate trees on the second Wednesday of April, this year, April 9. Many countries also celebrate Arbor Day, and the Arbor Day Foundation has a list of all the dates for Arbor Day in various states and countries. The Foundation describes why trees matter: “Trees clean our air and water, provide habitat for wildlife, connect communities, and support our health and well-being.” I imagine that “health and well-being” probably includes fruit and nuts, but let’s pause to highlight the delicious apples, peaches, cherries, almonds, and so many more edible treats that grow on trees.  Plus, trees are beautiful, reflecting the generosity and splendor of the God who made them. 

Because I love trees, I enjoy the various ways trees are used in the Bible to represent faith, everything from the tree of life in Genesis 2:9 to the tree of life in Revelation 22:2, which grows on “either side of the river of life.” (Some translations have “each side of the river.”) I wonder what that means! The tree of life in Revelation bears fruit every month, and “the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations.” Oh, yes, loving Lord, we — and our nations — need healing. Heal us, we pray.

Judgment or suffering in the Bible is often described as involving trees being destroyed (see Psalm 105:33, Isaiah 10:33, Habakkuk 3:17, 18). Fullness of life is described as being like a fruitful tree. Psalm 1:3 describes a person who loves God’s law: “They are like trees planted by streams of water, which yield their fruit in its season, and their leaves do not wither. In all that they do, they prosper.” Hosea exhorts Israel to return to the Lord and promises that faithful Israel’s “beauty shall be like the olive tree,” and “they shall again live beneath my shadow, they shall flourish as a garden” (Hosea 14:6, 7). God who created trees, help us bear fruit, flourish like a garden, and show forth your beauty.

Micah 4:4 describes peace and well-being in God’s presence: “They shall all sit under their own vines and under their own fig trees, and no one shall make them afraid.” Yes, loving Lord, give us your peace so we can sit under a fruitful, leafy tree, free from fear.

Trees call us to worship. “Then shall the trees of the forest sing for joy before the Lord, for he comes to judge the earth” (1 Chronicles 16:33). Judge of the Earth, help us join the trees in singing  and rejoicing that you will judge the earth with righteousness and equity.

This year, Easter and Earth Day are both on in the same week, April 20 and 22, a wonderful juxtaposition, falling between Washington State’s Arbor Day and National Arbor Day. We are able to flourish like trees and bear fruit, both as individuals and as Jesus’s beloved community, because Jesus broke the power of sin, death, and the devil by his resurrection. The resurrection of Jesus gives us joy so that we can sing with the trees to honor our Creator, Redeemer, and the One who comes to restore all things. Jesus, who is still alive because of the resurrection, brings us healing and peace. The Resurrected One is also the Creator of this beautiful earth, who called humans to till and tend the garden (Genesis 2:15)

“Praise the Lord” says Psalm 148. “Praise the Lord from the heavens . . . Praise him, all his angels . . . Praise the Lord from the earth . . . Mountains and all hills, fruit trees and all cedars!” (verses 1, 2, 7, 9). The writers of this psalm were not thinking of enormous Western red cedars. The smaller and equally lovely cedars of Israel would have had some resemblance to my enormous friend in our backyard.

Creative and beautiful God, these three holidays of April — Arbor Day, Easter, and Earth Day — call us to praise you. When we see the splendor of the trees you created, open our hearts to you, the Resurrected One. Help us tend trees and sing with them. Give us perseverance to treat your creation with care.

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April has so much to write about that I neglected Palm Sunday and the events leading to Easter. Here are past posts relevant to the upcoming week:

• Jesus frees us from bondage at Easter
• Jesus withers a fig tree
• Three psalms for Holy Week (one of the most popular pages on my website)

Next week: Holy Saturday. Illustration by Dave Baab: Golden ash tree in the Botanic Garden, Dunedin, New Zealand — Dave’s favorite tree that he has painted numerous times. If you’re on Facebook, I’m posting this painting plus three others Dave has done of this tree.

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Lynne M. Baab, Ph.D., is an author and adjunct professor. She has written numerous books, Bible study guides, and articles for magazines and journals. Lynne is passionate about prayer and other ways to draw near to God, and her writing conveys encouragement for readers to be their authentic selves before God. She encourages experimentation and lightness in Christian spiritual practices. Read more »

Lynne is pleased to announce the release of her two 2024 books, both of them illustrated with her talented husband Dave's watercolors. She is thrilled at how good the watercolors look in the printed books, and in the kindle versions, if read on a phone, the watercolors glow. Friendship, Listening and Empathy: A Prayer Guide guides the reader into new ways to pray about the topics in the title. Draw Near: A Lenten Devotional guides the reader to a psalm for each day of Lent and offers insightful reflection/discussion questions that can be used alone or in groups. 

Another recent book is Two Hands: Grief and Gratitude in the Christian  Life, available in paperback, audiobook, and for kindle. Lynne's 2018 book is Nurturing Hope: Christian Pastoral Care for the Twenty-First Century, and her most popular book is Sabbath-Keeping: Finding Freedom in the Rhythms of Rest (now available as an audiobook as well as paperback and kindle). You can see her many other book titles here, along with her Bible study guides.

You can listen to Lynne talk about these topics: empathy, bringing spiritual practices to life. Sabbath keeping for recent grads., and Sabbath keeping for families and children.

Lynne was interviewed for the podcast "As the Crow Flies". The first episode focuses on why listening matters and the second one on listening skills. 

Here are two talks Lynne gave on listening (recorded in audio form on YouTube): Listening for Mission and Ministry and Why Listening Matters for Mission and Ministry.

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"Dear Dr. Baab, You changed my life. It is only through God’s gift of the sabbath that I feel in my heart and soul that God loves me apart from anything I do."
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