Yesterday we had a tree service company come look at our locust tree. We noticed this spring that part of the trunk has a pretty good split down it. With high winds that came through Monday afternoon, it split even further. I was on pins and needles hoping it wasn’t going to break off and land on my writing cottage.

This tree has been here a long time — pretty much since we moved here about 28-years ago.

It has shaded our deck and my writing cottage, provided wind on warm days, and held a swing from one of it’s branches where I enjoyed many moments of relaxation.  Not to mention, all the birds that love to sit upon its branches!

Mike, from Woody’s (yes, his company is called Woody’s!) noticed a hairline split in the major trunk of the tree which we hadn’t even noticed. His advice was to take the whole tree down.

“No! We can’t do that,” I said. “I love this tree.”

After a bit of discussion we’ve decided to just remove the major split in the secondary part of the trunk of the tree and some other branches to ease up on the weight for other areas of the tree. For now he used ratchette straps to hold things in place until he can get here in a few days to trim it.

We hope by doing this that the tree will be around for a few more years.

I even said to Mike, “Do you think if we just love the tree a little more it will last longer?”

He said, “Well, you can certainly try that.” I don’t know if he was just playing along with me — or perhaps thought I was a bit nuts.

But I’ve really come to love trees over the years, even hugging one last Christmas as I had the urge and didn’t care if someone saw me. I just had to hug that tree!

A part of me felt a bit silly later on last night wondering if perhaps I’m a bit “out there” feeling so attached to this tree.

This morning after I practiced my yoga on the deck, looking up into the locust tree, and standing facing it as I did tree pose, I picked a card from a new deck of cards I have by Caroline Myss called, Wisdom for Healing and this is what it said:

See God in All Things

“Put yourself in slow motion, and observe everything and everyone through the lens of “This is sacred and it speaks to me.”  How does that change your environment? Your goal: to learn the spiritual practice of seeing God in all things.”

And so it is. This tree is sacred to me and it is my friend. And I will help it be the best it can be and love it for as long as it has left on this earth…

Because I do see God and spirit in this tree.

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