Majesty

I was out on a walk on a trail not far from my apartment, and one of my favorite things to do is to go off the trail and explore in the woods, because I have noticed that there are often tiny little out of the way trails that wind around just a few feet from the edge of the lake. I think I've taken as many of them as I can find...although on my adventures last night, I noticed that there seems to have been an explosion in the growth of these wonderful stinging plants that grow right near the ground. I was wearing cutoff pants, so my adventures got cut short.

I walked a little farther down the trail, and came upon another trail that cut into the woods, this one seemed a bit more clear. I walked down into the woods to the edge of the lake, and found a couple of trees that had grown so close to the water that they had begun to tip into the water, and their branches grew out and then down back into the water, making this shaded little cove.

I climbed up the tree a little ways until I was suspended above the water, and I sat there thinking about what we think of when we hear trees. People make metaphors about them all the time, how we should be like trees because they have deep roots that anchor them, and tall branches that reach toward the sky. Well, this tree's roots may be deep into the ground, but they didn't help it stand tall, and the top of the tree curved back toward the ground, not up toward the sky.

However, I think this tree provided perhaps what I considered to be quite a beautiful scene there by the lake, and made an amazing spot to sit and ponder life. This tree had begun to tip...but had not fallen, had tried to grow up, and instead grew out. By normal standards, this tree was a bit of a failure. It's beauty, however, was not affected by its lot in life. It still held its ground, was still a tree, just happened to be a tree in different surroundings and condtions. What if we could respond in such a way...to be bent, but not break, to be forced into less than ideal conditions, and still find a way to let our beauty come through?