What are you reading this summer? And what spiritual reading are you doing this summer? I love to read any time of the year, but there’s something about summer reading when the days are longer and the sunlight mingles with the printed word that turns my bookworm self into a book butterfly because my imagination is set aflight.
My to-read list is delightfully long because of the wonderful book recommendations I hear from others. Do you have any book recommendations to share? If you could recommend one book—one spiritual book—to a beloved friend for their summer reading, which book would you recommend? I know, that’s such a hard question. Just one book!? Right now, if I had to choose just one book to recommend it would be the all ages book Wishtree by Katherine Applegate. This is a wonderful intergenerational, interfaith, intercultural and interspecies book. And best of all, the story is told from the perspective of a red oak tree who is hundreds of years old. Trees tell excellent stories!
Is there a tree in your life who tells excellent stories? A tree from your childhood? A tree who lives with you now at your home? Is there a special tree who has shared in your life story? We all have a tree like that in our lives, don’t we?
So beyond printed books (and I do love books!), my summer spiritual “reading” includes listening to the stories of trees. Trees are telling us Nature’s story. Can you hear it? The stories of the land. The stories told by every tree and every rock and every flower bud. The stories being told by the stars. Every second of every day and every night Nature tells her stories. I am hearing all kinds of stories from The Book of Nature and so if I could recommend one more book (I knew I couldn’t recommend just one!) I recommend this one for your spiritual summer reading.
—Angie Pierce Jennings, Prairiewoods hosted groups and hospitality coordinator