Observations
with the class on the Noland trail during the beginning of November.
Strolling
along the path in the midst of autumn was like traveling through a color bridge
of vibrant colors and life. Even though I knew the leaves were dying,
consciously my perception and soul were seeing life and creativity. To the
tree, the changing of the colors of its leaves communicates the agreement the
trees have with the changing seasons. It is as if they are the canvas for the
painter who is autumn. Not only that the leaves that have fallen now blanket
the ground in more shades and hues of orange, red, yellow, brown, purple, black
and others than one could count. The reminder is that the creator of the
largest canvas still out does the most gifted painter. As I continued on the
trail, I noticed not just leaves, but lots of gumballs and acorns that were on
the floor of the woods. Nature was communicating that even were there is death,
life has already been predestined. For as each seed hits the ground, the
potential for new life and as a resource to sustain life increases, giving even
more vibrancy to the woods. With the seedlings on the ground, it reminded me
that every good tree produces fruit after its own kind, and needing pruning,
the purpose is to produce even more fruit for the next season that the process
of life, death, and rebirth will continue. It speaks to me of humanity where
desires live and grow, and then die but come back and are rebirthed. For good
and for bad, history seems to repeat itself and the narrative of the trees
exemplifies the same thing. That is, life being precious, has to die in order
that new life will come and come more abundantly. Spiritually, my walk with the
holy is similar to this where I am encouraged by my faith to die every day to
my own interests, fleshly desires, and self-centeredness in order that the new
life of God that has been sown into the soil of my spirit and soul may grow and
bear much fruit throughout the seasons of my life. Every day is a new day for a
holy seed to be planted within my being and a dead one to rot away to nothingness.
Specifically, for the gumball with its spikes, and even the acorn with its
point, reveal to me the significance of the seed to cling to the ground or even
be carried by creatures of the woods to different locations to spread life to
the surrounding areas. Hiking towards the end of the trail, a tree stump poked
and extended out of the shallow water, dead and dried above the water.
Concluding to me, that the cycle of life will continue on.
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