Keep reaching up (Talking to Trees)

How do you do it?
Where do you find the strength?
How do you sustain and support yourself out there
So far from the trunk
No external support
You started out pointed down, but then grew up
What sort of internal dynamics or structure
Enable
Support
Insist
That you continue to point up
That you must reach up
You will continue to grow up

If you can
Then there must be a way I can
Extended
Reaching
Far from visible and obvious support
But strengthened from within
Created to endure
And thrive
And keep reaching up
And going forward

Uh oh...You're Dead! (Talking to Trees 2)

In the midst of all the lush green

There you are

Tall and strong

But you're dead

What happened?

Somehow you got disconnected

From your life source

From your roots

From the vine

Did disease set in slowly?

Something you should have paid attention to earlier?

Was it little bugs?

Something you thought you could handle on your own?

But you were too strong

And then the infestation grew, and grew

And before you knew it you were a goner

From other angles, you still look really good

From down below, no one would even know

You're still covered in lush green

Those that came and surrounded you

Drew on your strength

But their fruit, even you helping them bear fruit

Is no indication of your life

Their fruit is only a sign of the life in them

The sign of your life would be the fruit growing on you

And there is none

Do you even know you are dead?

Did you even notice the slow decay?

Or did you ignore the signs?

Were you so busy that you could not tell?

So caught up with all the life around you

When the life left you

You couldn't even tell?

Sometimes, actually,
No one can tell even from other angles.

Winter soon comes

All the others will lose their leaves too

Ah, that will be comforting

Then they will all look just as barren as you

You still have some use

You can still support others

Bearing their weight

Until they discover you can no longer support

But someday you will not even be able to bear your own weight

Someday the truth that IS already

Will be evident to all

You will come crashing down

Fit only to be burned

(Mostly written October 4, 2010--a day I was seeking God, and hearing Him speak through trees--words of warning, parables of life. This is the second Talking to Trees entry, see Talking to Trees 1 here)

Just One (Talking to Trees 1)

I noticed you today
Don't know why I didn't before
You are a palm tree

Palm trees are nothing unusual
Plentiful in some places
But here, on this mountain
There is just one
 
Only you

You are an oddity here
Among all the other greenery
You stand alone and forlorn

Alone, Yet you've grown strong and tall
 
Do you mind being so odd?
Do you mind that you have to hold the fort alone?
There in that spot
I will never know

There might be others like you
The only one of their kind in these surroundings
But they don't stand out like you do
It seems the other varieties
Have the joy of like-natured companionship

But you are definitely unique

Even in placement and space
There is a gap between you and them
All others stand apart from you

Is it because you're unique, they ran away?
Did they not want to be near you?
Or did you not want to be near them?
Or were you the only one that could handle that place?

Do you feel alone?
You are far from the others on the surface
Yet you share the same soil
Perhaps you reach out and touch
Somewhere down deep where you go for nourishment
You are watered by the same rain
You were planted by the same Creator

Who are you to complain?
Who are you to resent?
Or to boast?
Each would be equally in vain

Live the you you were meant to be
Grow and flourish where you were planted
For your singularity
You will be noticed, despised, and perhaps admired too
I hope you can live beyond all these

Keep reaching up
Looking up 

Be your palm tree self
Live free

(Wrote most of this Oct. 4, 2010, not sure why I didn't finish...Was learning from the trees that day. Perhaps I'll complete the other post too...)

Talking to Trees

Some people (like my friend P.T.L.) think of birds--flying and soaring--when they imagine the abundant life we were meant to live. For others (like Thirsty Fool), animals (like a pet dog) provide analogies and metophors for the spiritual life.

I, however, often think of trees. There are so many analogies--the need for deep roots, how we get deep roots, good fruit only from a tree that is good, the time it takes and now hard it is to notice the daily, weekly or even monthly growth of some of the trees that become the strongest and live the longest.

Hardly a suprise then, I guess... As I spent my last day out of the country that has been my home, listening to my Father, hoping for a summary or some final word on what I have learned or how I should go forward, I found myself noticing...first one tree, then another.

Soon I'll post ... what I said to the trees.

And in the learning, in the reflection, I guess this is really more about God speaking to me, through the trees.