Allowing the Process

Photo and column by M.

  I have been bonding & finding my truth sometimes in those trees that look so ragged, sometimes questioning if there is even any life left in them.   

  Shortly after moving to my new home, I found a tree stripped of bark. Some branches did not even have anything but the center of the branch left. A neighborhood woodpecker takes a little bit each day from the tree.    

  However, as bad as this tree looks, I always seem to get a lesson of some sort when I take my walks. This day, unlike any other, I look right in between two of these trees’ stocks & limbs. One of the trees caught a little pine tree seedling that has started to grow in this tree.   

  I visit it often on my walks in the neighborhood. This little seedling I've been visiting, I am always finding something new about the tree that speaks to me.    

  The older tree has three main branches to it, two in front that hold the little pine tree & one behind those two. In my visit today, I noticed that as the pine tree is growing, the roots are expanding to take root & make its mark where it’s at. It's all a growth moment, because as the roots expand, they push the third main branch away.   

  The process is beautiful, allowing another living tree to grow within one’s self.  

  Just like a caterpillar goes along eating everything in sight, it doesn't stop to wonder why or anything else. It just continues to eat & grow until it then starts to make itself a cocoon so it can rest & allow itself to transform into a beautiful butterfly.  

  Even becoming a butterfly is a process. It's all in the Father's timing, for it all takes time, not a second less. If you or something else was to try to help the butterfly come out of its cocoon, its wings won't form, leaving this beautiful creature unable to do its intended purpose or job. Its wings would be too moist & underdeveloped to fly.   

  Take time to look for the little things in life & enjoy every second of the rest of your life, don't live underdeveloped, instead learn to go through all of life's processes.

  You are stronger than you think.