The Anne Frank Center USA is embarking on a project to plant ten saplings, begun as cuttings from a dying tree in Amsterdam which figures significantly in the famous Diary of a Young Girl. And in doing so, they invite each of us to consider where we find God.
Her diary records the following spiritual practice which inspired one of the best known heroines of the Holocaust. She writes on February 23, 1944:
“From my favorite spot on the floor I look up at the blue sky and the bare chestnut tree, on whose branches little raindrops shine, appearing like silver, and at the seagulls and other birds as they glide on the wind. When I looked outside right into the depth of nature and God then I was happy, really happy.”
Where do you find God? Is there some physical object or act which regularly connects you as deeply as that tree did, Anne? What?