Wednesday, September 16, 2009

Walking Trees



“To find your creativity
You have to leave the city of your comfort
and go into the wilderness of your intuition.
You can’t get there by bus--only by hard work, risk
and by not knowing what you’re doing
or where you’re going.
What you discover will be wonderful.
What you discover will be yourself.
-adapted from Alan Aida


These words massaged my soul this morning as I sat by my window praying. I asked God to help me go into the wilderness of my intuition. Most of us know more than we think we know but we have to be very still to touch the depth that is in us. And truly, there is a depth in each of us that we have not yet discovered. And so I asked, in prayer, to be given a memory that would stir up my creativity and imagination--a memory that would remind me of who I really am. The memory came very quickly and it is so dear...the face of a little girl arose in my mind's eye.

Many years ago when I was teaching grade school in Dixie, Arkansas (3 grades in one class room) I provided a sharing time for the children to talk about something from their lives that the rest of us might enjoy. A little girl raised her hand and told us that if we wake up in the middle of the night we should be sure and look out the window. She then proceeded to explain that at night the trees, who are tired of just standing still all day, start walking around and sort of visit one another. Fortunately the Spirit was very present to me at that moment and I didn't say, "Oh, that is just your imagination." I said something like this: "You know, I think maybe I've seen them at times also." Some of us talk about imagination as though it is false but that is where our dreams come from. And so I would say to all you grown-ups who are so busy with matters of such great importance, look out your window in the middle of the night (or even in daytime) and you, too, may see the trees walking about. The trees in the photo above look sort of like walking trees and I thank earthshots.org for it. If my Sycamore tree ever decides to go for a walk I hope it remembers to return to my cedar swing.
SPEND TIME WITH A TREE TODAY.

3 comments:

  1. I love the story of the trees. Our trees are so meaningful to me here in Alaska. They don't get very big around and their roots can't go too deep. Sometimes the winds are too much for them and we lose them, a great sadness. Every window that I look out of right now is FILLED with trees! I am grateful. I am also grateful for the poem. I am SO RELIEVED that I don't have to know what I am doing or where I am going!

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  2. Macrina, what a beautiful reflection, the magical imagery it evokes reminds me of our friend, Mary Southard's wondrous (tree's communicating) painting, "Radiant Morning." It can be viewed from her website www.marysouthardart.com under New Paintings. Wouldn't it make a splendid cover for a book? Many thanks for your prolific, gorgeous work, it all resonates and speaks of grace to me. Thank you!

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  3. To be creative, we learn that it is not "just imagination". I will be looking for walking trees myself today. (I'm sure that big stand of bamboo at the back of my garden dances all night long!)

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