My wife was reading me a passage from a bible verse, I think it was the book of Jeremiah in the Bible. Reading from that book is like mining for gold in a old abandoned rock quarry. You work and work and feel confused and discouraged until one day you hit a discovery and you are like, woohoo, all that pain and suffering was worth it. Anyway, the passage was referencing how a tree that stands by a river receives nourishment form the nearby flowing water and you can tell the evidence of that by the shining leaves, healthy fruit. The tree does not necessarily know the source of the success, but has great benefit none the less. Now the author was alluding to the blessings and benefits of deity in one’s life that you may or may not notice but for you look at the results in your life.
I might claim to be miserable, but then I look at my beautiful family, everyone is generally healthy and we have a roof over our head and plenty to eat. Seems like we are the tree planted close to the river. However, that is not the thought I wanted to write about, although it is certainly worth of consideration. What I immediately thought about was what activity has more value? Look at it this way. Pretend that unlike the tree, we had a choice in the matter as to where we set ourselves up.
What would have better effect? A tree that is planted in a difficult spot where water and sunlight are scarce, or a tree that finds its way to a spot with plenty of sunlight and a water source nearby? I actually am not sure. Let us talk about why.
The tree in the difficult spot has to work really hard to get the nourishment it needs. The roots spread far and wide, deep and shallow. Anywhere it can find water and nutrients. The branches and leaves also spread out, stretching, bending, reconfiguring their state to get what sunlight it can find. This can produce bad results, the tree might be misshapen after all this, but the tree is also a survivor. When drought comes, winds, disease, or fire – the tree is ready. Its roots are strong and deep, its branches long tested. This tree will survive. However, the rest of the days are a struggle and progress is slow.
The tree in the lovely spot has a constant flow of nutrients. Water is a plenty. The roots grow more shallow and stay closed to the trunk. The branches grow really thick to support a flourishing bundle of leaves on each stem. The tree grows free and in great splendor. This is a beautiful tree, the perfect place to setup for the day to pretend to fish while you take a long summer’s day nap. However, when the floods come. When the wind picks up and disease starts to spread this tree finds itself in trouble really fast. It is not prepared, beetles and other decay set in its bark and pretty soon it finds itself fallen, swept away by the rising river and serving as the North leaning wall of Mr. Beaver’s dam. Having said that, this tree when alive, is happy, content, and beautiful.
I have often wondered where is the work better spent? In preparing a comfortable and content environment that produces results while you sleep? Our is the work better spent in constant strain, struggle to improve and take on the contest for the day. On one hand, work spent cultivating the garden will produce effortless results in the future. On the other hand, not spending work in the current and daily struggle will produce a garden incapable of handling hardship. Perhaps there is no one answer. Perhaps this is what the sage Peloton 23 year old yoga teacher was trying tell me, you need balance old man.
Guy Reams
There is a steep hill I routinely climb up a winding road. There is a small stream that runs beside it. There was an excess of rain and run-off making the stream rage. As you can imagine, the stream is lined with many trees taking advantage of the moisture. It took a few days after the rain, but the mighty oak fell. It’s trunk almost creating a bridge across the creek. The massive canopy laying on the other side. I think about how old that tree might have been and how much it survived. But in the end, it fell. Unlike the tree, we have a choice about where we plant our roots. Here’s hoping we make better choices.
I suppose we can consider that the mighty oak could not move. The ground became too soft for its root system. Sometimes we have to be able to move, adjust, adapt to changing conditions. I like to hope we have that kind of resilience. We will see…