TREES

"Hope there is an elevator
in this high rise."

Today's spotlight shines on this photo taken and shared by Debbie. 

All woodpeckers are cavity nesters.  They create their nests by chipping out a deep hole in a tree. 

When I look at this photo, I think of Shell Silverstein's book, "The Giving Tree."   It is a beloved classic in children's literature.  I remember gifting my great-nephew, Shawn, a copy of that book.  Actually, I gave him several of Silverstein's books. 

In The Giving Tree, a little boy loves to play with a tree, climbing its branches, eating its apples and swinging from its limbs.  The tree, in turn, loves the boy and is happy to give of itself to him.

As the boy grows older, his needs and desires change.  He no longer wants to play on the tree, but instead wants apples to sell, branches to build a house with, and eventually, a place to rest as he grows old.

The tree, despite its own needs, continues to give to the boy, sacrificing its apples, its branches and eventually its trunk for him to rest against,

The boy grows into an old man, and he returns to the tree....which is now only a stump.  The tree stump is still happy to offer him a place to rest.  The old man is content to just sit and rest.

The story explores love, sacrifice, generosity and the changing dynamics of relationships.  It touches on the importance of appreciating the gifts we receive.

Very much like my 
place of make-believe and pretend

......I think about the tree in the above photo from Debbie.  It, too, was a giving tree.  Do you have memories of a tree or trees from your childhood?  I remember my maternal grampa making us cousins a swing between two trees in the grove west of their house.  He made us a sand box in an old tractor tire...beneath a shade tree.  And, the exposed roots of the big old elm tree south of our house separated the rooms of my make-believe fancy house where I served my guests tea and cookies.  I'd sit all by myself on a tree root, talk to my pretend people, and for me, that elm tree was my friend.  It gave me a place where I could spend time and pretend to be whoever I wanted to be.  I'd sit on those same tree roots and feed little lambs with a nipple attached to a pop bottle.  

The Bible mentions trees some 250 times.  Trees are the most mentioned living thing in the Bible, after God and people.  There's The Tree of Life, the Tree of Knowledge, the Fruitful Vine, the Mustard Seed, and the Fig Tree.  Trees symbolize life and growth.  They're a reminder of Our Creator's desire for humans to thrive.  They're signs of a long life.  They provide shade, shelter and sustenance.  They literally do give their all.

Learn character from trees,

values from their roots,

and change from their leaves.

~Tasneern Harneed