Since I was young, this has always been one of my favorite books. I recently read this book after not reading it for 5 or 6 years, and it moved me to tears, due to its beautiful, simple message. The Giving Tree is a story about a tree and a boy. The tree loves the boy. The boy “loves" the tree. Each time the boy comes to her, she gives everything she can to make him happy. And his happiness makes her happy. She does not demand, judge, offer advice, get angry, ask “what about me?” Each time she gives, she gives selflessly. Her love is unconditional. I am moved to tears, each time I read it. If I think too much about it, however, it also makes me angry. The boy, specifically, makes me angry. In the beginning, the boy and the tree share beautiful, innocent time together. Their relationship is strong, much like a mother-son relationship. But time passes, and the boy starts to grow up and becomes selfish. He does not spend time with the tree any longer. Instead, he has gained a notion that happiness is found, not in spending time with the tree, but in things, found elsewhere. Forgetting that he once loved the tree and found his happiness with her, he asks the tree to make him happy by giving him things she does not have; money, a house, a boat. He does not ask humbly, he only thinks of himself. The tree is willing to give anything she can to meet his needs, each time the gift is more and more costly to the tree. Each time he returns the tree is overjoyed to see him, and gives without a though to herself. Each time, the boy returns, he seems more and more unhappy, and it takes more and more to make him happy. Once he gets what he wants, he takes without thanking the tree, and leaves her alone for a long time. In the end, the tree has given everything she has, and nothing remains of the beautiful tree but an old stump. Eventually the boy returns, having spent his life pursuing things, none of which have made him happy. They are both old and spent. Despite the fact that she has given everything she has, she is still happy to give of herself, one last time, as the boy sits down on her, the stump - all that remains of the once beautiful giving tree.
I think I love this story so, because it illuminates parallels between mankind's relationship with God.
The tree, like God, shows unconditional love to the boy, wants relationship with him, and provides for, shelters, and loves the boy. Any time the boy goes to the tree, the tree is happy to see him, and willing to help him. The tree does not complain, demand, get angry, or hurt at his selfishness, ungratefulness or at being left alone. She shows unconditional love to the boy, despite his not loving or thinking or giving to her in return. But unlike the tree, God doesn’t just give us everything we ask for. God wants us to find our happiness in Him. Many times I’ve heard people say “God wants me to be happy!" NO! God does not want to us to be happy. God wants us to find our happiness in HIM!
The boy, like man, has the flawed idea that happiness can be found outside time with the tree/God, in things and other places. He says he is too busy or doesn't have time for, or has no need for God/the tree. He instead, spends his life searching for happiness in pleasure, money, things (house), people (family)/popularity/fame, work/activity, always coming back empty and more unfulfilled, to the point where he wants a boat, to take him away. As if happiness could still be found somewhere apart from God/the tree, (perhaps even turning to accesses (drugs/alcohol). But of course this is a children's book, so it doesn't say that, but you definitely feel the boy's despair and emptiness. In the end, the boy comes back to the tree, and similarly, in the end (or in times of despair) we come back to God.
This story makes me angry because the boy totally takes advantage of the tree and doesn’t appreciate what the tree does for him. He always comes back, wanting more, never satisfied. He doesn’t deserve the tree, but the tree loves him anyway. The tree gives of herself, even at great ultimate cost. At the end, the boy doesn’t confess his unhappiness due to his own selfishness, he doesn’t thank the tree for everything it’s done for him. He just says “I don’t need much now, just a quiet place to sit and rest.” At this point in the story, all that is left of the tree is a stump, and the tree straightens up, and brightly says “well, an old stump is good for sitting and resting. Come, Boy, sit down. Sit down and rest.” And the boy does. The boy finds rest on the stump. And the tree was happy.
I was thinking about the boy. He is a lot like mankind, seeking, always seeking things to make him happy. True happiness is not in our power to accumulate possessions or achieve because we always want more than we can have. In Ecclesiastes, Solomon shows how empty it is to pursue the pleasures that this life has to offer, rather than seeking a relationship with the eternal God. The search for pleasure, wealth, and success is ultimately disappointing. Nothing in the world can fill the emptiness and satisfy the deep longings in our restless hearts.
I think we often wish that God was like the giving tree, giving us everything we ask for. I am so glad he does not. But oftentimes, we expect God to give us things to make us happy. We forget that our happiness should be found in Him, not in things and not in a life without Him. The boy is never happy unless he is WITH the tree. The boy takes and goes away, leaving the tree for a long time, and he comes back, unhappy, asking for more, and the tree gives and the boy takes and goes away, leaving the tree for a long time, and he comes back, unhappy, asking for more, and more until the tree has no more to give, but the very base and roots of an old stump, and the old man has spent his life pursuing things that don’ t make him happy. In the end, the boy and the tree being together makes them happy. In the beginning, when the boy is young, the boy and the tree spend time together, and both are happy, and in the end they spend time together and are happy. See? Happiness comes from knowing and having relationship with God, finding our happiness in Him. God is very patient and loving with us, as the tree was with the boy, despite the way he treated her. God doesn't give us everything we want because, as THE loving father, He knows what is best for us, and knows that denying our selfish and narrow-minded requests, or even just making us wait, and preparing our hearts keeps us from finding happiness in what we ask for, and makes us rely on Him.
Psalm 62: 5-8
Find rest, O my soul, in God alone;
my hope comes from him.
he is my fortress, I will not be shaken.
My salvation and my honor depend on God;
He is my mighty rock, my refuge.
Trust in him at all times, O people;
pour out your hearts to him,
for God is our refuge.
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