“Happy, Happy Trees”

Psalm 1

“Happy is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, nor stand in the way of sinners, nor sit in the seat of scoffers; but he delight in the instruction of the Lord, and on that instruction he meditates day and night.” He shall be like a tree… (Psalm 1:1).

Alexander Pope had another take: 

Vice is a monster of so frightful mien, 

As to be hated needs but to be seen; 

Yet seen too oft, familiar with her face, 

We first endure, then pity, then embrace.

Whatever—villainy and vice come easily. All we have to do is follow the crowd. First we take delight in its counsel, then we embrace its behavior, and adopt its cynicism. Inured to goodness we become distracted and heedless, blown about and borne along by every whim and vagary that comes our way.

Or, we can withdraw our roots from world of group-think and travel to the river of God. We can delight in and listen to God’s counsel, think about it and pray it into our souls. 

We can be a “happy, happy trees,” as John Keats would say, full of life and energy, towering over our former selves, verdant, multi–hued, and majestic. “The north cannot undo them, With a sleety whistle through them, Nor frozen thawings glue them, From budding at the prime” (“Happy Insensibility”).

The process begins with “meditation.”

To “meditate” is to “mutter” or speak softly,” with the implication of speaking quietly to one’s soul. It’s what an earlier generation of Christians called “spiritual reading.” 

Spiritual reading involves reading the scriptures slowly, thoughtfully, prayerfully until we’re arrested by a thought. Then “God’s word has come,” the old folks say, “God is speaking his word to me.” 

We can then think about that “word”, what it is, what it means and how we are to be changed by it.

Finally, we can turn our thoughts into prayer and ask God by his spirit to transform our attitudes and actions, for we are helpless to change ourselves. "Only God can make a tree.”

This “snippet” from psalm 1 and others that follow are the products of that practice. They’re not expositions of the psalms, per se, but those times when God spoke his word to me. I offer them to you with the prayer that he will speak to you as well. 

David Roper

9.27.19