"How can I do what you say," asked the child, "and still be me?"

"Look at me," said the tree. "I bend in the wind, droop in the rain. Yet I always remain myself, a tree."

"Look at me," said the man. "I can't change."

"Look at me," said the tree. "I change every season from green to brown to green again, from bud to flower to fallen leaf. Yet I always remain myself, a tree."

"I can't love anymore," said the woman. "With my love, I have given away all that I am."

"Look at me," said the tree. "There are robins in my branches, owls in my trunk, moss and ladybugs living on my bark. They may take what I have, but not what I am."

Whether we know it or not, we are like the tree. Only our pride hangs on to a false sense of self, wanting to keep everything, refusing to follow advice or spiritual direction.

What we do doesn't matter; how we do it is what counts. Change and growth is as natural as the sun coming up every morning and the setting of it every night. Go with what is inside you and listen to what your heart tells you. Why not if even for just today, reach out once more to a place that exists outside yourself without fear or judgment for yourself or from others . . . just once more.

We can easily forgive a child who is afraid of the dark; the real tragedy of life is when men are afraid of the light. - Plato

• Added: February 25, 2000
• Posted By: Heart & Soul Group
• Web Site: Heart & Soul Discussion List, Inspirational, spiritual, positive: Maintained by SpiritWeb and operated by CetanSayela.

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