Nature, A Tree Hugger and You
“In nature, nothing is perfect and everything is perfect. Trees can be contorted, bent in weird ways, and they’re still beautiful.” Author Alice Walker
I think we could all learn things from nature. For instance, while we sometimes demand perfection from ourselves, a rose bush doesn’t. There are two in front of my doorway. One is very crooked, bent far over and the blossoms all grow on one side. But no one minds walking to that side to see and smell the roses as they almost touch the ground.
In art, as in life, a mistake is often considered nature’s blessing. A painter I knew once had only a single peacock feather for a still life. He could afford nothing more, not even a bowl of fruit. He started to paint the peacock feather but he had only one very large canvas left in his barren studio. He had started a blue theme on it. Now he had no choice but to paint the peacock’s wavy feathers and a cream colored background over the blue. And because he only had one feather for a complete still life, he started to fill the entire huge canvas with its blues and purples and iridescent greens. One late afternoon, as sunlight faded and shadows reached the corners of his studio, he looked at his painting, saw a vague blue horizon on his canvas far in the distance behind his giant feather — and suddenly, the painting was finished for him. Later, it won first prize in an international show. However, the young man was so touched by its strange wild beauty that he refused to sell it. He kept it for himself; it hung in his home for years after.
Meditation for the Day
“If the sight of the blue skies fills you with joy, if a blade of grass springing up in the fields has power to move you, if the simple things in nature have a message you understand, Rejoice, for your soul is alive.” Eleanora Duse
Action for the Day
Each time I walk outdoors, I will stop and really see the surprises nature gives us each and every day. Is there a forget-me-not at the side of this road? Are there pecans under that tree? Is that really a live frog sitting on the curb? Feeding my soul is as important as feeding my body or my purse. What I pass today I may never pass again.
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