On the forest floor
an acorn sprouts through, the first hue is gold, beginning its long journey upward, to the resplendent light above, seemingly impossible to reach.
Four hundred years of growth
to touch the canopy’s peak, each cycle gold, then green, brown and barren, then reborn anew. She marks each year by her mending rings of life. Storms and drought, insect, bird and mammal burrows, lightning, fire and flood have shaped her age, leaving wounds, some deep, some hidden. Yet she is giving of her shade and nutrients to all the forest’s needs, driven by an inner purpose to provide. Far below, new sprouts break through.
And so, her rings prevail
one by one, healing the scars of age, adversity, revealing character, fortitude, resilience, survival, pushing ever upward to the light.
Ultimately, the ancient tree
falls and is honored sustainably and responsibly by our woodshop. Our task is to embrace her life story, a study in joys of growth, the beauty of flaws. In this way she is still alive, still breathing. She speaks to us. And we listen.
We can cover up
nature’s marks, hide them beneath sleek, polished veneer. But we choose to reveal them, rejoice in them just as we should look inward, behold our own scars, to remind us of just how much work we have left to do each and every day.
And in that sense
may your own rings prevail and heal, push forever upward to the light.