Though people are often referred to as tree huggers this moniker is not usually meant literally. It just means that the person cares about the environment or maybe wears sandals and eats granola. I do like granola and I do care about the environment, though I rarely wear sandals.
And I do love trees. Especially big trees, old trees, trees with character and history. Maybe that’s one reason I like Tolkien so much, for he so deeply loved trees too (For a wonderful essay about Tolkien and trees click here).
Now wouldn't you love to curl up in the nook of a "limb" on Treebeard (who wasn't himself a tree but was a tender and guardian of trees) and take a nap, or hear a tale of Fanghorn, or listen closely along with Treebeard to the deepness of the forest? I like to sit against trees, especially in the nooks between roots of really big ones, like Frodo did in Tom Bombadli's forest. Thankfully the trees I sit against are nicer than Tom's. And if I sit very very still against a tree in the forest soon the animals forget about me and go about their business and often come very close. I've seen lots of deer this way.
Trees, especially old trees, seem to have unique personalities. Even old trees of the same species are quite different from each other, and they each seem to have a unique story to tell if they could but talk. Trees point us back to the mystery of history, to stories we want to understand yet which seem just out of our grasp, to that mystery which is the past. This tree has a story I think.
I think C. S. Lewis would call this love the love of “affection.” It is deep and abiding, and many people share this affection for trees, and the land, and the soil, and unspoiled places. When you cut down their favorite grove of trees or open up to development that beautiful field you are not just removing inanimate objects, you are removing something beloved, and you are cutting into a person’s heart.
I suppose I will keep hugging and loving trees. I will try to make the world of my grandchildren and great grand children better by planting more of them than I destroy, directly or indirectly. I will keep trying to preserve for the enjoyment of my children and grandchildren and great grandchildren special beautiful places so their lives can be rich and full of the bounty for which (I believe) God has created and with which he has blessed us.
People of faith often talk about "heaven" in a very nebulous non physical sort of way. For those whose faith is rooted in the Hebrew or Christian scriptures however, this picture just won't do. The story of these scriptures points not to a mere "spiritual" as in non-physical end game, but to something far richer, to a "new heavens and a new earth." Yep, a new earth. The narrative of these scriptures points to the restoration of the original creation, a creation teeming with life, and filled with trees and forests and animals! One might even say that the story of these scriptures is a story of garden restoration ( :-) ), where the primordial earth and the original garden finally find their freedom from bondage and live on and persist in all their intended glory.
And as to the tree hugging, and my confession, here is proof: