One of my favorite things to do in life is in the early morning as the sun is rising, on a gloomy day where the sky is between rain and sweating, or when the sun is raining it's sweet rays down on the world, is to just sit under a tree and think and contemplate. To unwind. To sit in wonder. There is just something surreal and that brings solace as I watch the branches sway around me as if they are waving at me underneath them, or seeing life and death in it's very form in the roots of the trees foundation and it's fruit, or the withering away of what was in the past and looking forward to what is to come. There is just something to life that can be found sitting under a tree.
I also tend to process through my writing and sometimes talking things out, often repeating what someone else has said in my own words so that I know I understand (ask my wife on this one, she'll testify). This blog (though I hate the term) will be an attempt in doing these two things: finding rest through contemplative writing.
I have chosen the name "Under the Juniper Tree" not only because of the solitude and rest I find underneath a tree of shade, but also in remembrance of the story of Elijah in 2 Kings 19:1-8. This is where the Lord met with Elijah in the wilderness during one of Elijah's most spiritually parched times in his life. Feeling alone in a barren land and thinking he was the only lone prophet of the house of Israel left, he sat under the juniper tree and fell asleep in anguish. There, the Angel of the Lord restored him to strength through physical and spiritual sustenance as the Lord prepared a meal for Elijah and caused him to rest under the tree, then continuing on through the strength of the one meal the Lord provided. During the forty day travel, the meal the Lord provided under that tree gave him the strength he needed for the forty day journey to the mountain of God, Horeb. This ultimately is where I feel like the Lord will meet with me and bring sustenance to my bones in the dry and weary land we call "the far country" and give me the strength to make it through the journey.
