Passing some grand old maples one day, it occurred to me that one of the many reasons why going into nature uplifts our spirits is that nature points to a way to live our lives: Showing us how to live in joy, how to live without self-criticism, how to live in the moment, how to live in faith and hope. Everywhere in nature we see an essential, authentic magnificent expression of itself. Everywhere, we have examples of life demonstrating life in faith. Each part from the microscopic to macroscopic responds to what is present, no more and no less.
For example, it would be humorous to imagine a tree worrying about its appearance, or whether it will get enough, or holding itself back from sun, water, and the nourishment from wind, sun and love. Or wondering what is the right thing to do. In fact, the opposite is true, the trees declare, in this emerging Spring, Look at me, See how grand I am, See how Wide my canopy is, Look how wild and free I am. The trees are reaching for the sun, training their branches to move into every glimpse of daylight making sometimes the most unusual twists and turns as they grow. We see them standing at the top of the hill expressing their innate sense of beauty and grandeur.
No, a tree does not worry about not having enough. It trusts, knowing that it has all that it needs in this very moment. And the next moment will bring more of what it needs to allow it to respond to life. And this intrinsic truth is also true for us: each moment brings us all that we need. Even if there may be much we could worry about, or the answers to our questions seem unimaginable, untenable, ungraspable, in truth, at each crossroad, we are given what we need for that moment. At every stage we find the strength, the courage, the inner guidance to steer us to our destiny. This promise is given to us, is reflected in nature, is demonstrated over and over in our courageous lives. It is not the worst-case scenario that drops us to oblivion, it is our worry over its possibility.
Listening, as I have learned to do in the company of trees has taught me to be present in each moment to hear the inner guidance, to trust the inner voice that leads us to better possibilities than we could imagine for ourselves.
This time of unfoldment is unprecedented for most of the world. Fighting it makes the process more uncomfortable; allowing for it to unfold like a flower of many, many petals will bring wonder and delight.
Blessings