A few weeks ago we went apple picking. Looking around at all the trees I noticed that the branches were so loaded with apples that they were literally dragging on the ground. The branches were mangled and twisted yet full of beautiful red fruit. It made me wonder how the tree could thrive with the burden of its load. How could one tree nourish so much fruit? It made me start thinking of my own life. I often feel burdened, not only in the negative sense. Burden's are things we carry. It can connote being overloaded with what is on our plates, which does happen, but the apple trees made me realize how much beauty can come from burdens. Yes, I am often overwhelmed with life and yet so much beauty comes from doing so much. Yes, I'm tired, sometimes lonely, and some days just want to give up on so many things. Some days I relax and don't do much throughout the day, but I think that's how life works. I guess I just have to realize that as my "branches" are getting twisted and mangled there is a reason for it...in the end beauty will come, as long as I am will to accept it.
4 comments:
What a great post! Perhaps like the trees we have to give away a little bit of ourselves in order to nourish and care for such beautiful families... or apples! I thought the trees looked amazing...
what a beautiful picture, jen. and i love your description of the branches twisted and dragging because of their burdens, but that being the source of their beauty. i think so often we wish that there were no burden because the twisting hurts. but as you say, it's the twisting that makes us into the beautiful people we can be. last week i watched this interview with pema chodron:
http://www.pbs.org/moyers/faithandreason/watch_chodron.html
and she talks about doing away with suffering, but points out that that doesn't mean doing away with pain. anyway, i thought it was an interesting point she was making--that we can't eliminate pain and hurt, but by altering our reaction to pain we can eliminate suffering. sometime when you have a free hour, you should watch it. i think you'd really enjoy it.
thanks for a great post! hang in there. love ya
Very nice! (Especially on this crazy Halloween day!)
Post a Comment