Walking with Trees

I walk quite a bit.  Most of my walking is fairly well-populated; city sidewalks, shopping centers and department stores, to meet people in offices or coffee shops.

Sidewalks are crowded, and shared with people on their cell phones, bicycles, baby carriages, skateboards, even tables and chairs.  In the evenings I enjoy walking around the neighborhood, and those sidewalks are shared with runners, people walking their dogs, and more bicycles and skateboards. I have enjoyed walking on the beach, feeling the sand between my toes.

I remember walking on summer evenings in the Midwest, past houses with porches and yards, seeing the lights of television sets through the windows.  I can remember specific walks in many places; by myself and with so many different people, sharing our thoughts or sharing the silence.

A few weeks ago I visited Yosemite for the first time, and was reminded that my favorite walking companions have been tall evergreen trees.  Their straight, towering trunks reach up to the sky like church spires; they are like the pillars of great cathedrals, shading the sun’s light and creating sacred space.  My thoughts and reflections have room to become prayers.

Tall evergreens are rooted and focused.  They have a complex system of roots that holds them to the earth and that allows them to stand tall and strong.  They have branches, but put most of their effort into developing their trunks.  Tall evergreens understand the need to remember their values, and not to get distracted from their primary purpose.  They pay most of their attention to pointing toward the sun and growing taller, not covering a wider area.  Tall evergreen trees know how to be true to themselves.

Tall evergreens also help me regain my perspective.  It is amazing to me to touch trees in Yosemite that John Muir may have touched; the living trees are part of the network that helps us stay connected. It is related to the wisdom of the trees’ age.

They have been alive for hundreds of years; there are tall trees in California that are among the oldest, longest living things on the earth.  They do not hurry; through years of struggle and years of plenty, they continue to do what they were intended to do.  They are examples to me.

Now my walking companions are patiently waiting for me to return.  I hope I can become as patient as they are.

[Image by Spoon Monkey]