“Who is God really?” Alex wondered, watching the clouds slowly drift across the sky.
Suddenly, a gentle, deep voice answered him. It wasn’t coming from nearby—it seemed to echo from everywhere. It was the tree!
“Hello, Alex,” said the tree. “You’ve asked a very important question. I can tell you a story about it, if you’d like.”
“Yes, please!” Alex replied, excited.
The tree sighed softly, its leaves rustling like the beginning of a tale.
“Once, a group of ants living at my roots wondered, ‘What’s the world like above the tree?’ One ant said it must be full of light. Another said it was just a big empty space. A third ant said it had to be something they couldn’t possibly understand.”
“And were they right?” Alex asked.
“They were all right, and they were all wrong,” said the tree. “The world above the tree is far more than they could ever imagine. They couldn’t see the sky, the birds, or the passing clouds because their minds were too small to grasp it all.”
Alex thought for a moment.
“Is that how it is with God?”
“Exactly,” said the tree. “Many people believe they know what God is like. Some say God is like a king, others say God is like a loving parent, and others think God is just a mysterious energy. But God is bigger than all these ideas.”
“But if we can’t understand everything about God, how can we know anything?”
“God isn’t something to be understood with your mind, Alex. God is like the sunlight that warms your face, even though you can’t hold it in your hands. God is like the wind that blows through my leaves—you don’t see it, but you feel it.”
Alex closed his eyes and tried to feel the wind brushing past him.
“So, I just have to feel?”
“Yes,” said the tree. “Sometimes, in the quiet, you’ll feel that God is everywhere—in you, in me, in every star in the sky. And then you’ll realize that no thought can ever contain God.”
Alex smiled.
“Thank you, tree. I think I’ll try to feel more and think less about God.”
“That’s a good start, Alex. Remember, the greatest mysteries aren’t meant to be solved but to be lived.”
And so, Alex went home with a sense of peace, knowing that God was far greater than anything he could ever understand—and that made him love God even more.