Three Lessons from This One Tree

It has only happened a few times in my life. I like trees just fine. They give me shade and stand tall and beautiful for all the world to appreciate. They also save us from our own toxic breath and they provide shelter when we need it. But to me, trees have always just been…well, trees.

Except for the very few times when they have reached out of their normal tree-routine of just being, and stunned me into silent awe and wonder with their meaning and deep show of truth.

This weekend I experienced one of those times.

“It was large and very green. It struck me how expansive it looked, reaching out in all directions with so much green.”

I was at the ballpark watching my son’s little league game. I needed to run to the car for something. As I was walking towards my car, this tree caught my attention. It was just a pretty tree, at first. It was large and very green. It struck me how expansive it looked, reaching out in all directions with so much green.

“Wow, that’s a thriving, healthy tree,” I thought.

As my car was just beyond the tree, I kept walking towards it and when I got close enough, it dawned on me that what had caught my attention was not the green leaves, but the bright, vibrant red ones. It looked like a perfectly spaced pattern of single red leaves peppered into the greenery.

“Oh wow, it’s not only thriving with green, it’s also dying in red! And the red is spectacular.”…