Under the Broom Tree
A Meditation by Rev. Cameron Trimble
“And after the fire a sound of sheer silence.” — 1 Kings 19:12
There is a wonderful story in the Hebrew bible in the book of 1 Kings…
Elijah had just stood alone against the prophets of Baal.
Israel was in political and spiritual crisis. King Ahab and Queen Jezebel had aligned themselves with the worship of Baal, the storm god tied to empire, fertility, and power. The old stories of justice and covenant were being replaced by propaganda, fear, and loyalty to the throne. Elijah had spent years warning that the nation was losing its soul.
Finally, everything came to a head on Mount Carmel. Hundreds of prophets loyal to Baal gathered before the people. Elijah stood alone. The contest was simple: whichever god answered with fire would be shown as true.
The prophets of Baal shouted and danced for hours. They cut themselves with knives. They worked themselves into religious frenzy while the crowd watched in silence.
Nothing happened.
Then Elijah rebuilt the broken altar stone by stone. He soaked the offering with water until everything was drenched. And when he prayed, fire fell from heaven. For one brief moment, it looked as though truth had finally broken through. The crowd erupted. The spell of fear seemed broken. You can imagine Elijah standing there exhausted and relieved, believing perhaps that the nightmare had ended. And then Jezebel sent a message: “By this time tomorrow,” she said, “you will be dead.”
Elijah runs into the wilderness alone. Eventually, exhausted, he sinks beneath a broom tree and says to God, “It is enough now.”
He does not sound triumphant. He sounds like someone whose body and spirit can no longer carry the weight of the world.
I think many people know that feeling right now.
There is a particular exhaustion that comes from living too long inside sustained crisis. War after war. Democratic erosion. Ecological collapse. Corruption so blatant it barely even hides anymore. Every day asks for moral attention. Every day demands emotional energy. Every day seems to bring another reason to be alarmed.
After a while, the body keeps score. You wake up tired, even after a full night’s sleep. It is hard to focus. Simple tasks feel harder than they should. Some people go numb. Others become overly reactive. Some fall into despair. Others hold on to outrage because at least it feels like something.
The story does something surprising here. God does not rebuke Elijah. There is no lecture about faith. No command to toughen up. No demand that he immediately return to the struggle.
Instead, Elijah falls asleep beneath the tree. An angel wakes him and tells him to eat. Then Elijah sleeps again.
That detail feels deeply important to me right now because we are living in a culture that romanticizes endurance while silently destroying people. We praise overwork. We celebrate constant availability. We expect human beings to absorb a relentless stream of grief and fear and somehow remain psychologically stable.
The old spiritual traditions remind of us a different way.
Being exhausted is not always a sign of weakness. Sometimes it is simply a real response to what is happening. Our bodies are not barriers to spiritual life. They are where spiritual life takes place.
Before Elijah hears God’s voice, he sleeps. Before he finds clarity, he eats. Before wisdom arrives, he rests. That is not incidental to the story. It is the story. And eventually, when Elijah reaches the mountain, God is not found in the windstorm or the earthquake or the fire. God arrives after the noise passes. In the sheer silence.
I wonder how many people right now cannot hear anything deeper because their nervous systems are overwhelmed. The volume of modern life is simply too high. There is too much information. Too much stimulation. Too much fear. Too much performance. Too much doom flowing through a small human body never designed to carry the emotional weight of the entire world all at once. No wonder people are exhausted.
The wisdom of Elijah’s story is not withdrawal from the world. He eventually returns to the work before him. But he does not return immediately. First he rests. First he eats. First he remembers he is a creature, not a machine.
Maybe part of spiritual maturity is learning that we do not serve the world well by permanently running ourselves into the ground. Maybe the refusal to rest is not devotion at all. Maybe it is a failure to accept our humanity.
Even prophets sleep beneath broom trees sometimes.
Maybe you need permission to do the same. Or maybe I am preaching to myself.
We are in this together,
Cameron
Reflection Questions
Where do you notice exhaustion showing up in your body right now?
What would it mean to take your limits seriously instead of treating them as obstacles to overcome?
When was the last time you experienced real silence, not just the absence of noise?
A Prayer for the Day
A Prayer For The Exhausted
God of shelter and rest, so many of us are tired. Tired from the deeper exhaustion that settles into the body after carrying too much for too long. We are trying to stay awake to the world. Trying to remain compassionate. Trying not to look away from suffering. Trying to keep going. Help us remember that we are human. Teach us to honor our limits without shame. Teach us that rest is not failure. Teach us that our bodies are not interruptions to spiritual life, but part of it. And when the noise of the world becomes too loud, lead us again toward the silence where your presence can still be found. Amen.
Spiritual Practice
Beneath the Broom Tree
At some point today, step away from the noise on purpose. Put down the phone. Turn off the news. Stop scrolling.
Find a place where your body can relax, even briefly. Sit outside if you can. Notice your breathing. Notice the tension you have been carrying without realizing it.
Then ask yourself: What would actually nourish me right now?
Maybe the answer is sleep. Maybe it is a walk. Maybe it is prayer, conversation, music, or a quiet meal eaten slowly.
The goal is not escape from the world. Elijah eventually returns to the work before him. But first he rests beneath the tree.
Perhaps you need to do the same.
Upcoming Events That Might Be of Interest…
My team and I launched a new experiment we are calling “The Commons.” It’s an online space centered around communities of practice: groups of people who share a common concern, set of problems, or passion for a topic, and deepen their knowledge and expertise by interacting on an ongoing basis. Join the community here.
May 11, 2026, 7-8pm ET - “Art as Resistance” on the Commons. My dear friend Rev. Shawna Bowman and their colleague Rev. Anna Kendig Flores are offering an incredible online experience of engaging creatively around the role of the artist in movements for social justice and human rights. In this session they will be exploring collective power, and Shawna will demonstrate creating art with wheat paste (whatever that is…I will be learning with you). I hope you can attend. It’s free and such a gift to your spirit. Register here.
May 27, 2026, 12pm ET - FREE WEBINAR - I will be hosting an online experience titled “Reclaiming the Power of Imagination: A live experiential webinar with Jackie Sussman." Jackie, a psychotherapist, author, and leading expert in Eidetic Image Psychology, has spent over forty years helping leaders and individuals unlock creativity, uncover hidden strengths, and move through limiting patterns. During this session, she will lead a live Eidetic process shaped by mythic imagery, offering a direct experience of the work. REGISTER HERE.
October 18-21, 2026 - PREACH! 2026 Conference- I’ll be co-hosting PREACH in Minneapolis with Church Anew, a new gathering for preachers, storytellers, worship leaders, and spiritual communicators navigating what it means to speak with clarity, compassion, and courage in a changing world. If you’ve sensed that the preaching moment has changed and are longing for thoughtful community and renewed imagination for this work, I hope you’ll join us.
I drafted a Strategic Framework for Congregations as we move into the coming years of increased authoritarianism around the world. If interested, you can download it here.
Fun Things My Friends Are Up To…
I get to work with such amazing, creative people. This section is my way of celebrating them—no paid promotions, just joy in what they’re creating.
Perhaps some of you know some women religious who might be interested in this offering: Join Land Justice Futures for our first Summer Read, featuring Becoming Kin: An Indigenous Call to Unforgetting Our Past and Reimagining Our Future by Patty Krawec! Women Religious Communities (vowed members, lay associates, staff, volunteers, etc.) are invited to come together to deepen on our journey of repair as we consider how our faith is calling us to look anew at the legacy we have inherited and imagine a healing, just future. The series begins on June 29th. Register here.
My colleague, Dr. Tim Eberhart, is offering a summer course that I wish I could take! Regenerative Mission & Ministry: Ecological Practices for Land Repair is a 7-week course for those seeking to integrate eco-theological reflection, earth-based spiritual wisdoms, and regenerative design principles for land repair. Participants will journey as a community of learners through a cultivated curriculum that incorporates selected readings, video instruction, ecological practices, and more aimed at healing social and ecological relations for the sake of mutual flourishing. It starts on June 3, so sign up soon if you’re interested!
The University of Victoria (UVic) offers an online course, A Meta-Relational Approach to AI. The course is designed for participants who are interested in thinking about AI in ways that challenge modernity’s extractive programming patterns in both humans and machines. The next cohort starts in NEXT WEEK. Registrations are open.
If you are a leader or member of a congregation looking for consulting support in visioning, planning, hiring or staffing, please consider Convergence.