about trees...and life

 


As I was walking my dog earlier, I passed by an old cottonwood tree that has stood for at least 75 years on the corner of my street. I stopped and gazed at its branches as they reached out and upward, almost as if hugging the sky. Birds of all kinds gathered in those branches and even a squirrel's nest has been seen in it. I thought of how that tree has weathered many storms and related it to the lives of so many of us. How, despite whatever life tosses at us, job loss, health issues, financial despair, addictions and abuses, (and for the tree, be it hail, rain, the cold of winter,) we are resilient enough to come back as strong as ever. This tree is strong enough to keep birds safe as they nestle in the branches during a storm. Think about it, how often do you see a nest in a weeping willow? It's the strong that survive.

Years ago I lived on a property that had an old elm in its own space. There were no other trees around it so it was able to grow to its fullest potential. It looked just like a tree that you and I could draw, with its circle of leaves and a straight trunk that rose about 50 feet above the ground. That tree lived for almost one hundred years, until a lightning strike finally hastened its demise.

If ever you are going through a time of uncertainty, just look out your window at a grand tree. There is a time for every season and that tree has seen them all. So it is with you---just as with that cottonwood tree, reach out your arms and embrace all that life gives to you, both the good and the bad. It is the bad that strengthens us for the better.