Some of you know I am starting a new and very unexpected chapter of my life. I find myself as a seminary student at Princeton Theological Seminary. Today, we had our first chapel service.

We reflected on Psalm 1, what used to be my favorite poem during my undergraduate days. “Blessed are those who delights in the Spirit of Love, and in Love’s heart they dwell day and night.”¹

They are like a tree planted by streams of water.

President Wilson’s powerful meditation on this piece of poetry transferred a strong image of a tree that has solid and healthy roots and is reaching out wide and tall. This is so powerful that it makes my heart swell.

I made a woodcut print titled “…A Tree Planted by Streams of Water,” in 2000. There, I wanted to portray the vigorous living energy of a healthy tree carried through moving shapes, color, and carved strokes. I rarely use primary colors now, and it is so refreshing to see my younger self being excited about pure colors.

Being Rooted. This carries a lot of emotional weight for me at this point in my life when I am far from rooted in a practical sense. (Could you please stop asking the question, where do you consider home now? I get seriously embarrassed with this question.)

But being rooted in something other than the practical. How about relational? I have friends and family in different continents, in whom we find rootedness. And I have my faith tradition, like prayer, ancient texts about God that are like water and minerals feeding my roots. And a couple of real trees in Princeton that are so big-hearted that they never discriminate in their welcoming. (This is material for another future entry)

Where am I reading to? Towards other fellow earthlings who need some serious healing like me, and more-than-human creatures who are waiting for me to bond with them.

We are alike a tree that’s planted by the water, we shall not be moved.

1. Nan C. Merrill, Psalms for Praying: An invication to Wholeness, Psalm 1 ↩︎