Does this make me a tree hugger?

A practice that I have been engaging in of late is what can only be described as talking or preaching to the trees. I have this spot out behind our apartment in the woodlands where I try and get to about every other day to sit in silence and observe nature. After a period of time I move out of the silence and begin to speak to the various species of oak, ash and maple trees. We were taught during a retreat to see the connectedness to creation as something to participate in, not run from. So here I am, out in the woods having conversations with trees and even find myself preaching to them on occasion. I have found that the trees are very responsive, not in a critical manner (or even fall asleep like some folks in my congregation are known to do) but there is a way of them speaking to me that encourages my soul and they have taught me much. To any other person walking through the woods and would happen to come upon a man talking to nobody (as it seems) would deem them as insane. I assure you that I am far from it.

I cite Jesus cursing the fig tree as an example not of his authority, rather his ability to speak to creation in a way that confused even his disciples. And the fig tree listened! Take the story of Jesus calming the stormy sea as another example of his inherent connectedness to creation. I believe that Jesus was trying to show us something in those two stories.

I am becoming a believer in the reality of interspecies and nonhuman communication. Listen to how the Psalmist put it:

The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands.
Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they display knowledge.
There is no speech or language where their voice is not heard. Their voice goes out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world (19:1-4a).

Every one of us has the capacity to hear these immortal preachers in our own tongue. Sadly, I believe in our modern world we have refused to hear the voices of creation making it all the easier to exploit them for our own gains. We live our lives as Derrick Jensen puts it in his book A Language Older than Words: that our entire culture is based on the belief that the earth is inanimate.

Creation is speaking to us. Even more today in the language of stronger hurricanes and tornadoes. In the way the earth is getting hotter. In the way our weather patterns are rapidly changing. In the way animals no longer coincide with us but attack us. Maybe we can learn something from the trees and creation. Only if we are ready to cast aside our fears of what others will think (and they will think it) then maybe we can become connected to the creation we are apart of and then want to stand up for that creation and protect it for our children and our childrens children.