Our Inner Tree of Life
An address I listened to by Rev. Chuck Blair of New Church Live, referred to the Tree of Life in the Garden of Eden as symbolising the most holy place within ourselves. It represents God’s presence within the garden of our minds from our earliest beginnings, which is never destroyed. However, our inner Tree of Life becomes covered over by our preoccupation with worldly matters and our reactions to adverse conditions in our lives. We were urged to go within and connect with this place within us by remembering a time in our lives when we felt peace, tranquillity, love, freedom, and acceptance.
By remembering a time in my life when I was unconditionally loved and accepted and totally at peace with who I was, I experienced the peace that is within me and available at any time if I should wish to connect with that place. My own experience was of my five year old self sitting on a porch step alongside my beloved maternal grandmother and stroking a pet cat together. This image from my childhood brought back the memory that I was cherished and totally accepted for who I was and also reminded me of my love for my grandmother. Chuck Blair reminded us that this love that we hopefully were all given as infants is always there and never goes away. This is God’s presence at the centre of our being, pictured by the Tree of Life in the centre of the Garden of Eden.
Jenny K.