Franciscan Sister of Christian Charity Sister Mary Ann Spanjers continues her discernment series with the 12th episode reflecting on Gratitude for Ordinary Trees.
Franciscan Discernment November 2025 Gratitude for Ordinary Trees
I was walking through the autumn woods last evening, as the leaves begin to fall it is easier to see the immenseness and silhouette of the trees, the way the branches reach out and up, the way the distinct trees grow side by side. I love the mystery of the beauty of creation. G. K. Chesterton, in his book Francis of Assisi writes:
The mystic, not only appreciates everything but the nothing of which
everything was made. In some sense he is there when the foundations of the world are laid, with the morning stars singing together and the sons of God shouting for joy, as Job discovered. That is but a distant adumbration of the reason why Francis, ragged, penniless, homeless and apparently hopeless, did indeed come forth singing such songs as might come from the stars of morning and shouting, a son of God.
This sense of the great gratitude and sublime dependence is not a phrase or even a sentiment; it is the whole point that this was the very rock of reality. That we all depend in every detail, at every instant, as a Christian would say upon God, as even an agnostic would say upon existence and the nature of things, is not an illusion of imagination; on the contrary, it is the fundamental fact which we cover up, as with curtains, with the illusion of ordinary life. That ordinary life is an admirable thing in itself but it is much more the ordinary life that is made of imagination than the contemplative life. He who has seen the whole world hanging on a hair of the mercy of God has seen the truth. He who has see the vision of his city, of his life, upside-down has seen it the right way up.
The photo of the tree was taken by the lake behind our Motherhouse. It is a photo of the reflection of the tree, it is upside down; It allows me to see the beauty, grandeur and uniqueness of one particular tree from a different perspective. This tree has been here all the years I have lived in the congregation; yet I never saw it before in such a unique way. As one discerns God’s direction in one’s life it is important to experience seeing oneself from a new perspective, upside down seeing one’s reflection, one’s ordinary life in a different setting, with new people, reaching out to those one would not normally choose, or in ways contrary to the usual.
This is what happened to my ordinary life when I entered the Franciscan Sisters of Christian Charity, I am still very much myself but my ordinary life is a reflection of God seeing me and guiding me to see Him and His creation as gifts; This gratitude produces more joy than I could ever imagine. May we be grateful for the ordinary moments, people, rhythm of our life and see it from new perspectives, as God sees each of us!
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