I think there might be something to learn from trees.
Trees are born as seeds. With enough luck and right conditions, they survive their youth.
Young trees reach for the sky, just like their parents do. The older trees protect the offspring from the snow and ice. But if the protection is too strong they don't allow the tasty sunshine through, the growth gets stunted.
The weaker trees die and the forest gets healthier.
A forest gets cut down and a new community of young trees emerge only to rebuild the once great forest, their parents left behind. Trees are resilient that way. Never giving up, never accepting defeat, trees grow on.
Animals searching for food, insects looking for shelter, parasites needing a host, the harsh realities of weather, and people using trees as their pawns, I wonder how we have any trees at all.
Thank goodness we do!
I was looking outside this morning at the beauty of the last snowfall. I'm not a fan of snow. But this snowfall was just the right amount of wetness to stick to the tree branches as it fell. Without these marvels I wouldn't have thought about life on earth, and it's beauty as it relates to our wooden buddies.
I look to the trees and wonder what stops their growth. Trees reach for the sun, but none have ever achieved it. Do all trees eventually lose to one of their predators? Or do they give up thinking their purpose was never to reach the sun. Is our life's purpose as simple as a their purpose in that it's their responsibility to continue the race, to provide a home to others, to provide food, and ultimately comfort.
I doubt any tree would want to become toilet paper. I can hear adult trees warning the sapling, "Keep it up and when you die, god will turn you into toilet paper". So even in the worst scenario, the purpose of comfort is still realized.
We do have a lot to learn from our wooden neighbours.
No comments:
Post a Comment