Skip to main content

I Visited a Tree

I visited a tree on my way home from work. I stopped by the park and sat at a picnic table just a few feet from a large tree and a small creek. Fifteen minutes with no other agenda - no phone, no music, no plan. I watched some insects - mostly ants. Some of them moved along the dirt near my feet. Others walked up and down the tree. As I watched an ant walking on the deeply textured bark, I noticed the tree's trunk had an interesting shape - like legs creating a valley where they touch. As moving as art, but more dynamic - more real.

A chipmunk came by while foraging and didn't notice me until it was only a couple of feet away. Among all the sounds at the park, the chipmunk’s startled squeak was the only sound that carried any sense of alarm. The chirps from the birds and the babbling of the creek were calming. Even the voices of people at the busier end of the park carried their owners’ joy and fun. No one needed anything from me. I felt no demands except to be present.

A lighting bug landed on a leaf. After watching it for a bit, I gently moved it to my hand and felt it wander across my fingers until it flew away. One of the insects on the ground was super fast over short distances. After each sprint, it would stop for a bit. I could see it easily when it was moving, but it disappeared when it was still. When it was time to go, I realized how much I had needed this pause. As I walked away from the tree, I understood that my life is full of sprints. But unlike the darting insect, it is only when I stop for a bit that I can really see where I am.

Mike B

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Gratitude: Your Role

Gratitude takes attention; it requires self-awareness and reflection. A deep breath, a look around, and acknowledgement of the beauty that surrounds us, whether we are looking at home gardens or further afield at more dramatic locales showcasing the beauty of the earth. It’s easier to encounter the sublime in mountains or shore, canyons, cliffs, and skylines. It is more challenging to acknowledge magnificence in slugs eating lettuce. We’ve asked members of the church community to post about their favorite places, the places close by and far-flung, where they feel rejuvenation and wholeness. While Hilary is hiking Pacific Northwest forest trails, familiar Green Mountain passes, and overseas landscapes, members of the Good Shepherd community are encouraged to share travelogues and pictures, reflections and thoughts as they enjoy travels and staycations, as well as imaginary or inspirational destinations; where we would like to see and be. Students at home for the summer, at ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Transformative

Renewal: pruning, dividing, transplanting. Transplanting is transformative. But it is also risky, and violent. Some weeding decisions are easy: we have buffalo grass growing among the irises, cleome, and blue star. Those knobby long stems are easy to identify as intruders, even if the pulling and bending and bundling present a physical challenge.  Some decisions are easy and present minimal risk. Some decisions are more fraught. Change is dangerous, but it’s the only way to open space to grow. In front of our house we have a small flower garden, a strip about 6 feet wide and twenty or so feet long. It’s the sunniest spot on our wooded lot, so anything that needs full sun lives there. It took a few years to establish, but we have two beautiful varieties of bluestar, or amsonia: Eastern which is shorter with willow shaped leaves, and Fringed —taller, needle leaves and lighter blue flowers that produces a golden yellow fall foliage display. The Fringed really took off and crowded ou...
Post a Comment
Read more

Monday walks

On Mondays, Good Shepherd parishioners walk around West Lafayette and Purdue's campus. I have had the pleasure of walking with them on a few occasions, and I tend to join on the absolute worst days. One day it started raining. Another day it was terribly hot & muggy: the kind of day you swim through the air or cut it to clear a walking path. I took pictures of highlights on the walk, mostly imitations of the pamphlet pictures Purdue uses to advertise itself as a welcoming, green campus in contrast to its image, or my image, of it as a campus amid cornfields. And for quite some time, there were literal cornfields close by academic campus.  I found myself also taking pictures of interesting green spaces, and chasing squirrels ( Purdue's squirrels are quite famous or ... infamous ). But it's the trees that caught my attention, and I cannot help but think about the naked leafless trees that bring me down in winter. But now, in late spring-becom...
Post a Comment
Read more