Tree Stump

Tree stump; 

looking deeply, maybe less dependent on ours eyes, more from the soul, a gaze in search of insight - and we see the stories revealed by a tree stump, what once was, from seed to sapling and now with all that remains left rooted in earth. These are stories of a seed's survival, with so many possibilities to prevent its growth and then with just the right conditions somehow met for its initial sprout. It's amazing to consider the odds against this happening, only one in 10,000 acorns have any hope of being an eventual oak tree, with rainfall, sunlight and good fortune in optimal amounts, and still even then a sapling is left vulnerable for so many years to come.

it takes a great deal of time to become a tree. 

and an infinite amount of patience. 

yet this is the potentiality of every seed, that one day, ground rooted and branching through air, it's now fulfilled its initial promise of success. The full expression of a seed is seen in the vision of a tree. Even it's eventual fall, trunk and branches no longer reaching for the sky, only a tree stump remaining rooted, still being nourished through its fatal wound.

the earth still cares for that which falls. 

as does its companions, a forest of care, with science showing that trees share water through their inter-connected root system, nourishing their near dead friend, keeping it alive for decades longer until eventually it rots back to earth and in doing so provides nutrition for the soil. 

by the grace of others....

a tree stump is kept alive until its journey is complete.

returning to earth.

home.

looking deeply, less with our eyes, but with a soul-gaze - and we see that our own stories are told through a tree stump. It's the story of our initial potentiality as a seed, our survival, of being nourished by earth, air, and sunlight, and how are our deep roots of life connects us to the world. We come to see how we're entwined with one another,  dependent upon their grace should we fall. The tree stump tells a life story, complete, and with this we see ourselves reflected through its long cycle from seedling to flourishing tree and then eventual decline. 

yet more so, and only with keen insight -

we see our true connection. 

our story.

~

Peace, Eric