The children's book, "The Giving Tree" by Shel Silverstein is one of my favorite stories. If you haven't read it you should, it is a classic. For years the book has been discussed by many people trying to understand what the author was really trying to get at. Some say the book is about a relationship between a mother and a son and that it shows the endless, unconditional love parents have for their children. Others say it is an environmental book, written to encourage children not to be abusive to the trees who love them so much. A third opinion is that Silverstein is writing about the abusive ways men treat women; how women give endlessly and men take advantage of that. Silverstein, who died in 1999, was never totally clear about his intentions with the book; at one point he simply said, "its about relationships".
Christians have found the story to reveal great truth about human relationships with God. The book is often used in Sunday School classrooms and by preachers in their sermons. One of the most widely accepted reasons the book was written was that Silverstein was trying to put into words and pictures his understanding of God and Christians. A widely accepted, yet still contested, story was that Silverstein was good friends with a Catholic author named Brennan Manning and apparently Manning asked Silverstein to write a children's book about God and Christianity. Manning argues that Silverstein had converted to Christianity and this was a book about that.
Just to quickly summarize the book for you: There are five phases the book goes through. In the first phase the tree and the young boy play together joyfully in the forest. The tree provides everything the boy needs and the boy provides love and gratitude to the tree. In communion together the boy is happy the tree is happy. In phase two the boy returns to the tree after being away for some time. The boy does not play with the tree, he simply needs money. The tree provides him with apples he can sell for money and the boy walks away happy. Much time passes and then in phase three, the now middle-aged boy, returns to the tree asking the tree to help him get a house so he can have a family. The tree meets the boy's need and sacrificially allows the boy to cut off all her branches to build a home with. In phase four the boy returns as an elderly man wanting to escape from the cares of the world and sail off on the sea. Again, in the ultimate at of self-sacrifice the tree allows the boy to cut down her trunk to build a boat and sail away. In the final phase the boy returns to the tree, now a stump and the tree says, "I have nothing left to give you."
The boy replies, " I do not need much now, just a quiet place to sit
and rest." The tree then says, "Good! A tree stump is a great place to
do just that! Come boy, sit down and be happy." The boy obliged and the
tree was happy.
Although the story isn't a full and perfect picture of God, I still find great truth in it. It helps me to think about how loving and sacrificial and compassionate God is to me. I challenges me to think about where I am with God now. Am I that child playing in his branches, totally happy and in great communion with Him? Or have I become the man who just needs God, takes advantage of Him and consumes Him as a product that helps him meet his needs and makes him feel better?
I encourage you to find a copy of "The Giving Tree" today and read it - it only takes about 10 minutes. I think you to will find there is much truth in the few words and simple pictures inside.
"And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen." (Ephesians 3: 17-21)