Overview:

Thursday of the Second Week of Lent

A Reflection for Thursday of the Second Week of Lent

Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD,
whose hope is the LORD.
He is like a tree planted beside the waters
that stretches out its roots to the stream:
It fears not the heat when it comes,
its leaves stay green;
In the year of drought it shows no distress,but still bears fruit. (Jeremiah 17:7-8)

Find today’s readings here.

I have always been awed by trees. 

Perhaps this was a result of growing up in an urban environment, where they were often less than abundant and thus somewhat of a novelty. Or perhaps it was my strong sense of whimsy as a child and the influence of fantasy stories like Narnia and The Lord of the Rings in which trees are not only living things but sentient and conscious things, capable of great acts. 

Whatever the reason, the trees I encountered in my neighborhood park were the most recurring subject of my imaginative play. They were beautiful to me, visually fascinating—each so intricate, each so singular. I revered them and respected them. They felt so permanent, in sharp contrast to the pace of childhood; I was constantly growing, constantly changing, but from week to week they remained, throughout the seasons of the year and the seasons of my life. 

I think I found them awe-inspiring because of this contrast between them and I: They were eternally calm when I was chaotic, firmly grounded when I was unmoored. How curious and impressive it always was, to see such profound life in something so different from myself. 

My instinct as a child was to understand and bridge the gap between them and us by humanizing them—naming them, assigning them personalities and character traits, talking about them as if they were my friends. But in today’s reading from the book of Jeremiah, my childhood instinct is reversed. Instead of imagining them as more like us, we are advised to emulate them. The model of the faithful person is compared to the deeply rooted tree, unperturbed by weather and seasonal changes; strong, constant, tethered. 

Being like the “tree planted beside the water” is much easier said than done. We are human beings: prone to fear, susceptible to distress. God gave us legs, and we have a tendency to use them to run away from that which scares us and even that which fills us with wonder. 

It’s true that my faith may not always bear fruit. But the next time I feel like fleeing, I’ll try to picture my favorite tree, root myself in the foundations of my faith and keep my trust and hope in the Lord.

Brigid McCabe is an O'Hare Fellow at America Media.