See this?
This is an old leaf.
This leaf has many lines and wrinkles,
its colour has changed through the short months of its life from
green through yellow then red, eventually falling gracefully to the
ground below and becoming brown, its final colour before slowly
crumbling away as dust beneath its mother tree, back into the earth
that created it.
That old leaf is symbolic of the very
essence of basic life not so different from our own. We are born, we
grow and change and wrinkle until ultimately our life ends and we
once again become one with the earth, all simple specs, and particles
of energy harmoniously at one with each other.
As human beings we have a habit of over
complicating and over analysing the world around us, everywhere you
look people are rushing around absorbed in the stress of their own
little lives, far too busy to actually enjoy them.
Some feel it is our given right to win
the lotto or get that promotion and feel so deeply disappointed when
such things don’t come to pass. Yet most of us go about our day to
day giving very little thought to the reliance we have on every part
of natures’ miraculous and perfect coexistence to simply be able to
breathe in the air around us.
Yes I too am guilty of self-absorption,
forgetting to want what I already have, not forgiving all that I
should and taking the things I cherish the most for granted far too
often. But recent health problems and the impending arrival of a new
life in the family are bringing about the winds of change within my
soul.
My little world is surrounded by colour
right now, and each leaf tells a story reminding me of how precious
our conscious time really is and how much beauty is unconditionally
provided all around us if I will just pause for a moment to take it
in.
The thing I am trying to grasp from the
world right now is courage. I am becoming a master of theory but I
need the strength to stand up practise what I preach and act upon the
lessons I have learned along the way so I may grow from them and pass
these gifts on to my children.
When my turn comes around to crumble as
dust on the earth below, becoming at one again with all those fallen
leaves that lay before me, somewhere on a bare branch as the sun
glistens in a droplet of morning dew, a bud will form and from it,
the great circle will continue.
See this?
This is a new leaf.
And this is me.....
turning it over.