THE THINKING TREE

                                               

 When I was young lad, growing up in a small town, there would be times when I would get out of sorts and confused and have to go straightened my little mind out. It was either that or my Dad would take the time to straighten me out and that was not always pretty. In a small woods, not far from my home there was a path that led to a bubbling creek and on that path there was a spot with a huge old oak tree whose branches seemed to envelope you as you sat beneath it. The tree was to me a symbol of refuge and a place where I could go and mull things over. There were lots of trees in the woods to lean on, but this one was to me, the smart old tree. The tree that had seen it all over the years, and the one that would have the most answers.

It wasn’t easy growing up poor and in a large family. My father worked from sun up to sun down. My mother seemed always busy and there was little time for consoling kids. So when I was having problems, I discovered, through this manner, that I already had most of the answers I needed, using only the God given gift of common sense. I just needed to go and sort the answers out and find the best one. There was no better place for that than my thinking tree. Maybe it was my way of talking with my creator through this giant specimen of nature. All I know is it worked so well.

Many times over the years of my adult life I have searched for similar counseling. It was always just my problems; Mother Nature and me, at attendance at these come to Jesus meetings. There was for me out there a sense of complete trust in the answers that come back. For you see I had taken all of the static out and I was on a clear channel to the solution. Am I talking about the ultimate solution-- maybe not, because it doesn’t always exist—but the logical solution for the moment-- yes.

We were given this pristine earth to live on eons ago and we, as humans, have done our best to destroy it. It’s in our nature to want what is fun for us, no matter the consequences. We can try, but in the end we can’t control ourselves. The world as it was created will never be the same until mankind goes away, but unlike mankind it can and will heal itself. Maybe that’s why I look to it for my spiritual conduit. I feel our creator knew we would do this to this blue planet but he said go ahead and use it anyway, knowing full well what would happen, but also knowing he could fix it. It was us there was few fixes for.

There are pockets on this earth where mankind has not left his mark and there are people who know and respect that. Little oasis’s of hope and places we can go and find our quietness and they’re not always at the base of a tree. For those of you who know me my life has been very troubled lately with my wife’s illness. I yearn to go back to my old thinking tree and try to heal my heart, but that’s not possible anymore. But the tree taught me something else way back then. To except the things I cannot change and change the things I can and have the courage to know the difference. In the end when we are gone, the best thing anyone can ever say about any of us is-- “He or she made a difference.”