Hello beautiful soul!
When I was in third grade, I established a friendship with the pine tree in my front yard.
We would communicate almost daily, as I waited outside for my carpool ride.
Since I was just 7 years old, I did not think it was odd to communicate with trees.
I trusted this pine with my most challenging emotions.
The tree would listen graciously and offer me full acceptance and wise counsel.
We communicated through the space of my open heart.
A few months ago, I was standing in my backyard with a team of male garden workers.
They were installing a fence for me.
They wished to convince me to let them trim an entire branch from the Schefflera tree that was growing "in the way" of the fence.
Of course, I knew that the tree wasn't the one "in the way."
I also understood that this work crew was greatly inconvenienced by my request to leave the tree untouched.
Their work required many hours of hard labor and I felt compassion for their tired bodies.
If I would just let them cut off this branch, their work would be far more efficient.
Standing together directly in front of the tree, we quietly considered the situation.
Then, something amazing happened.
A huge yellow leaf fell from the tree and literally smacked me on the shoulder.
I was wearing a tank top so the sound of it hitting my skin was actually audible.
The men and I stared at each other, wide-eyed.
Finally, one of them spoke:
"I think maybe the tree is telling us something?"
"Yes" I said.
"The tree has spoken. We will leave her undisturbed and build the fence entirely around her."
The men obliged.
Accommodating the tree required us to use a completely different type of fence.
No matter.
We were all quite moved by what we had just witnessed.
Schefflera tree with black fence
