WINTER TREES

Almost all of the leaves have fallen off the trees.  The colorful hue that radiated so much beauty these past few weeks is gone, replaced by the plainness and starkness of the bare limbs on protruding out of the trunks of trees.  They have completed their invisible job of growing and supporting these leaves ever since spring and now its time for them to stretch out naked into the sky, relax and enter into their long awaited season of rest.

I love winter trees.  They speak to me of strength, sturdiness, and sustainability.  Leaves come and go with the passing of the seasons, but the sturdy trunk and extending limbs remain true throughout the generations of time.  Their unseen roots grow deep into the ground, continuously providing the necessary nourishment for strong, sturdy growth.  The limbs extend upwards, reaching into the sky as if to touch the heavens and embrace the wind.  The beautiful autumn leaves fed my soul and now the stark empty trees lift my spirit to the heavens.

It’s like a picture story of Ecclesiastes; with all the busyness of growth, the blossoms of spring, the green leaves of summer, the gold and red leaves of fall, in the end what remains true is the stark, sturdy tree.

“Vanity of vanities,

All is vanity…

The end of the matter;

All has been heard,

Fear God and keep his commandments,

For this is the whole duty of mankind.”

Ecclesiastes 12: 1:2, 12:13

ABOVE & BEYOND

When we  lose our sense of story and myth, we lose the ability to see things bigger and beyond ourselves.  We can only see what is right in front of us as it is.  It is like God, in the beginning, hovering over the earth and seeing the dark, formless, void and saying, “Well, that’s the way it is, that’s what’s real, so that’s that.”  Fortunately God is creative and saw beyond the dark, formless void and said, “Let there be light”, and began creating a heaven and earth full of plants and creatures and breathed life into the world.  He produced the light, created forms of every shape and size, including human beings from dust, and then animated them all with his breath, his life energy.

God is creative and he made human beings in his image, creative beings filled with his Spirit and creative energy.  To live stuck in the belief that only what is seen right in front of us is real, is to deny the very energy we were created by.  To deny God leaves us only a dark, formless void as our reality.

We need our stories and myths, not as objects of worship, but to activate that creative energy that the One who created us breathed within us.  We need to see beyond what we think is real to what is bigger, mightier, and True; and what is True is God, the Alpha and Omega; the beginning and the end.

When I sit and look up at the sky and out over the ocean, my spirit soars in the expansiveness of them both.  They teach me that there is a beyondness to this life.  There are things I can’t see or even imagine out there, all around me, and also here, imprinted in my soul.  The above and beyond may be presently beyond my grasp, but I am always in touch with it and will forever keep reaching for it.

Stories and myths help keep my God given creative energy soft and subtle.  The vision of eternity that God put in my heart, the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end that is God himself, gives me parameters and keeps me rooted and grounded so that I can grow straight and tall, full and fruitful.

“And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good.”

THE CYCLE OF LIFE

Dan pulled up the sweet potatoes that have been growing by the side of the house.  The massive growth of huge leaves was pulled away to reveal a rich dark soil that helped produce a lot of rich red potatoes.  The contrast of the red fruit on the black soil was stunning.  The soil was fed by last year’s gathered leaves from around Richmond that was being put into the landfill until rescued by Dan for his garden; good human interference to counteract the bad interference of misinterpreted waste.  Those fallen leaves had a purpose in the plan of things and it wasn’t to just be dumped in a landfill to dispose of it.

Everything living has a cycle, a life-death-life cycle that needs to be left alone.  Nothing is wasted in this cycle; continual transformation provides all the necessary ingredients for reproduction and growth.  When it comes to nature humans need to help, not hinder the process of the life cycle.  That takes watching and learning from the Master Gardener and Creator.

FREEDOM IN THE PARAMETERS

There truly is nothing new under the sun; in the beginning God…in the end God; the Alpha and the Omega.  I find comfort in those parameters.  I feel a great deal of creative freedom in the space in between them.  Knowing the beginning and the end gives me the plumb line that is true that I can build my life upon and have it be pleasing to God and to myself.

For me the “vanity, vanity, all is vanity” that Solomon talks about in Ecclesiastes comes when I try to do things without the vision of eternity clear in my thinking and in my living; the vision that God put in my heart when he created me.  I find parameters and plumb lines helpful rather than being hindrances to my freedom to be me, the best me that is most helpful rather than harmful to others.  The fruit of the Spirit of God is grown within me, but it is produced to give away to others, all others, at all times.

Nature is most true in wilderness, untouched by human intervention, invention, or intrusiveness.  But in that natural wildness there is a natural law and order, pattern, and purpose.  It’s those things that make it seem so free.  Human law and order, pattern and purpose, tends to be restrictive and constrictive, which speaks to control more than freedom.

 People who live close to the land seem to live with a sense of rhythm rather than restriction.  It seems that the more civilized we become, the more we lose that sense of natural rhythm, and then we learn to depend on the artificial restrictions of time and space.  We lose the overall bigger picture of eternity and restrict ourselves to the now.  The over all natural parameters become artificial boundary lines, man made laws, and restrictive rules that put some in control and others under control.  With that comes an artificial illusion of power that humans use in forceful ways against one another.

When we lose the vision of eternity we become narrowly focused in the present and a sense of fear overtakes our sense of freedom.  It seems to me that the responsibility of those who know God is to keep that vision of eternity alive in the hearts of all people.  That is what Jesus did for all those he came in contact with.

There is much more beyond this present moment, beyond these present circumstances, beyond this present world, and beyond this present life.  The kingdom of God is the vision of eternity that God put in our hearts.  It is above and beyond anything we can imagine and it is beautiful, whole, and true.  It is the true power and majesty of a God who is pure love, life, and all that is good.  Without that vision people perish, frantically running around looking for something they know is there within them, but can’t find. It is clearly visible all around us in creation and it is available to all who seek after it. Seek it and you will find it.  Knock for it and it will be opened to you.  Ask for it and it will become known to you.  God has put the vision eternity in our hearts.  It’s already there, waiting for you to see, hear, and know. 

NOTHING NEW UNDER THE SUN

I used to like to cut an apple and look at the number of seeds, thinking, ‘how many trees will come from one apple…how many apples are in this one apple?’  Nothing different will grow from this apple seed except millions of apples; the same with all fruits, vegetables, trees, animals, and humans.  Left alone in the natural state, life will reproduce, each of its own particular species.  Each species has many variations and thus the world is filled with different shapes, forms, and colors.  To me all life and the process of life are magical, wonderful, and sacred.

As I looked at each one of my family at my mother’s birthday celebration, I saw seventeen different people, unique in who they were as adults.  But then I looked at my cousin and saw my aunt as I remembered her when I was a child, and in her brother I saw my uncle.  It was like having all those relatives who have passed away sitting there at the table with us, alive and well remembered.  Thus our family story continues on in the world, where everyone is different but also everyone is the same.  There truly is nothing new under the sun.

ALL THINGS GOOD IS ENOUGH FOR ME

There is a maturing going on deep inside of me that is amazing me for some reason.  I guess I felt kind of grown up a long time ago.  But this feels different, more true and centered.

Appreciation of the old and the ancient are not something I grew up to honor.  I think this is where those who live and are rooted in ancient lands have an advantage over us in the country.  The sense of history, the lessons learned from the ruins and remains of civilizations gone by, all speak to the truth that nothing is new under the sun.

I live in a culture that is in constant need to make things bigger and better and it leaves me constantly unsettled and frustrated at always having to learn the new, most updated change in everything.  There is no rest in that.  How better can one get things to work even when they are working perfectly now, and why do we feel that need?  Progress can be an evil slave driver.  Technology can be an evil slave driver that we serve rather than having it serve us.

Maybe it’s because I am getting older, but I like the old ways.  They seem more peaceful and secure.  It’s the things that remain unchanged and withstand the need for human intervention and invention that I find a soul comfort in.  Nature speaks to me in that way; the handicraft of God.  God is never in a hurry and is not constantly recreating and improving things.  He is content with what is, as created, and sees it is all good as is.  I always smile when I remember a conversation I had with a woman in Boonsboro, Md. after calling her to see if the company could come out and do some tree service for her.  She replied, “Honey, these trees were here long before I came and they will be here long after I go; and they are doing just fine.”

God created everything, including me as I am, and he declared all things “good”.  That’s enough for me.

QUITE ORDINARY SUITS ME WELL

Always the same yet always different.  The trees put on a magnificent show every year, but it never grows old to me.  The same leaves turn the same color but every Fall it is new and refreshing.  The show doesn’t last very long; it builds up in intensity, displays its beauty, and then the leaves fall to the ground and decay, working themselves back into the earth.

Nature is a thing of beauty 24/7, but the peak beauty only lasts a brief time.  I have my peak moments but most of my life is steady, ordinary, and pretty mundane.  This culture I live in wants to make life intense and spectacular all the time; that constant intensity merely exhausts me.

Life isn’t made more meaningful by making everything special and spectacular; if everything is special and spectacular, nothing is special and spectacular.  We need to allow for the ordinary to be mundane so that special and spectacular moments will be noticed when they arise.

There is rest and stability in the ordinary.  It is a safe place for me; a holy place where God and I can simply relax and BE.  No burning bush, no major flood, no changing water into wine, no raising the dead; simply BEING.  It is the still small voice being heard and absorbed on a constant basis.  I like the spectacular sometimes, but most of my life is quite ordinary and that seems to suit me the best.

A TAPESTRY OF BEAUTY

There is something so beautiful that happens when the leaves on the trees begin to turn colors.  The bright colors bring life to the scenery as each tree turns its own color; red, yellow, orange.  People try to capture the beauty in their paintings and pictures, but the life energy can never be captured or copied.

I will forever relive my Autumn Adventure in the Fall of 1995, as I began my trip in Stockbridge, MA and followed Fall back down through Pennsylvania to Maryland.  It was driving along the Mohawk Trail that I thought for sure that I was in heaven.  I was embraced by the wind as I looked out onto miles covered with colored leaves, a tapestry of beauty forever embedded in my mind and in my soul.  That memory has gotten me through some tough times and will continue to be the place I need to go when my heart gets weary.

Between the mountains and the ocean I will always have a place to go to find God’s comforting embrace.