Endurance ©Lynne Buchanan
View towards Heaven ©Lynne Buchanan
Broken Heart ©Lynne Buchanan
Sally's Tree ©Lynne Buchanan
I recently visited my friend Sally, a wonderful woman whose
path I was fortunate enough to cross in Scotland and who invited me to stay with her on my way west. While I was there, she asked me if I wanted
to meet her greatest teacher. Of course,
I said yes. We went out into the yard
and she showed me this unbelievable pear tree.
She calls it Le Pere, the French word for father, because of all
the wisdom it has imparted to her. As we
walked around the tree, she showed me where the tree had to be cut back after
Andrew, spoke of the damage caused by Katrina, and then mentioned the
devastation wrought by Isaac. Those were
just the big ones, she said. The tree
survived several other hurricanes with minimal harm. Le Pere was one of a pair of pear trees that
were on Sally’s property when she bought the house. A Cajun man told her that both trees would die,
because that’s what pear trees do when their caretakers die or move on. In fact, one of the trees did die soon after, but
Le Pere did not give up. After Isaac,
Sally thought that Le Pere was going to go too.
Then she said the tree spoke to her and asked her to clean out the rot filling
the cavity that was hollowed out from all the damage. Sally cleaned and cleaned that cavity, though
she had no experience in rehabilitating trees.
The tree slowly began to revive and this year there is a lot of new
growth. Miraculously the tree still
bears fruit.
As I spent time with this tree, I was so impressed with its energy and perseverance and willingness to offer its gifts of fruit
to the world despite all it has suffered. The tree was like a metaphor for
the earth. Our planet has been harmed in
countless ways. Do we just ignore what
is happening and let it rot more? Should we let
the injuries fester and kill any remaining life? Or do we step up to the call and begin
working to clean out all the gunk, the dirty energy that is wreaking havoc on
ecosystems and causing the waters to rise and fires to burn. Our planet is so miraculous and there is much
it can do to heal itself, if we just get out of the way and stop interfering by
unnecessarily polluting it with fossil fuels, fertilizers, and other
pollutants.
When Sally worked to heal the tree, it was also healing
her. I sensed that from all the healing I received by just being in the presence of this wonderful manifestation of being. Working with nature brings us all
into greater balance. We find our right
relationship with the universe and whatever we give to the earth it gives back
to us. Please join me in honoring Le Pere
by finding ways to help clean out the rot in your own backyard and ask nature
what you can do to help heal within and without...
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