Plants and trees are a key to Soul-wellness

In the Garden of Eden the Creator gave Adam and Eve vegetation that was pleasing to the eye and good for food. You might ask: “how does this blessing of vegetation help me be well in my soul?”  

Our emotional and physical health are a direct result of what we consume.  If we eat healthy, we will feel healthy.  And “feeling healthy” means both in my body and in my emotions.  So one blessing from Genesis 1, is our need to take of the natural plants, seeds, nuts, and fruits that God has given us and use them for our sustenance.  Enjoy fresh roasted zucchini, a luscious apple-raising salad, corn on the cob, crispy green kale chips.  Savor your food. And be blessed. 

But vegetation is not just for fuel for our cells and nutrition for our stomachs.  Vegetation is beautiful!  Think of the pleasure you received when your daffodils broke forth into vibrant yellow.  Imagine the fields of sunflowers golden at the peak of summer.  Recall the autumn trees painting a landscape with leaves of burnt orange and crimson red.  Our God is creative, and desires to give us sensations and pleasures for all of our senses.  Let vegetation bless your soul.

The most important blessing from the Creation story is this:  Seeds and vegetation along with their germination cycle are symbolic. Their cycle represents the process of spiritual death, burial, and resurrection into new life.  “God calls into being that which does not exist”, Paul writes in Romans 4:17.   The seed is packed with the potential for being a fruit-bearing tree or a nutritious plant. But while it is a seed we do not see that potential.

Soul-wellness involves seeing beyond the “seed” to the “fruit”.  Peace comes when you train your soul to believe in what God promises even though you cannot see it.  The story of Creation is exactly that:  the Almighty God pouring life into a void, and light into the darkness.