The more a tree is like itself, the more it is like Him. If it tried to be like something else which it was never intended to be, it would be less like God and therefore it would give him less glory. No two created beings are alike. And their individuality is no imperfection. . . . This particular tree will give glory to God by spreading out its roots in the earth and raising its branches into the air and the light in a way that no other tree before it or after it ever did or will do.

Thomas Merton, Living Kindness by Donald Altman