Communing with a Tree

I Love days like this. Cool and rainy, bright but not sunny, gray. I went outside this morning and spent 7 minutes with both my hands on a tree. It was a huge tree. I wondered how long it’s been in that place. How many iterations of this space it’s seen. How many conversations it’s overheard. 

As I stood there, I noticed how calm I felt, understood and covered, but I was also bursting with emotion on the inside. If I wasn’t paying enough attention, I would have mistaken it for sadness, but it was more like overwhelm. It was everything at once and what I was feeling in my chest, what I would usually associate with sadness, was just a response to all of the everything. 

It felt really beautiful. People walked by with their dogs, and I just smiled at them. I didn’t feel the embarrassment that I was expecting. I didn’t feel bashful or wonder what they thought of what I was doing. I guess I thought it seemed clear. I was communing with a tree, what is there to wonder about? 

This has been the coldest day in a long time. I didn’t notice how cold my hands were until I ran them under hot water when I came back inside. When I was walking back, I thanked God for noticeable shifts. For the seasons drifting from one to another, and for that in itself being a new space to begin in. I felt hopeful. So much can happen, who knows. 

I don’t happen to live in a place that smoothly drifts from Summer to Autumn to Winter, so I know there will be some up and down before it settles on being cooler, but even that is beautiful. It’s so…human. I’m thankful for that. 

Today has just served as yet another opportunity to Love where I am, and who I am in this space. My mind. My spirit. Everything I’m drawn to. The trees, and even the cold that is sure to come.