Wednesday, January 14, 2009

The Wisdom of Trees

I found today’s post in trees…

I was observing a few trees bearing the lashes of strong wind today, and I saw the young trees bend forward in submission to the wind’s will, while old trees were resisting, staying strong, and in the process they moaned and squeaked..

Which of the two is really stronger I wondered? And I saw that I feared that just a bit stronger blow would break the old trees in half..

You see, my friends, I understood today that more often than not I try to keep strong. When I get irritated by a random person I take hold of my heart and say to myself, “beware of yourself, don’t let your bad characteristics get the best of you”..and thus I firmly resist and keep strong, and try to be good. While it works with your general windy weather, it will break you in half when a storm comes along.

The most powerful way is really to submit and say “Oh my Lord, I am a weak one and I bend to You, make me a better person than I am, without you I cannot”.
And now that I am writing this, I think to myself, it’s way too simple to be an epiphany, yet it was. True power lies in submission, in asking for help, and admitting your weakness. Our inclination towards denying our bad characteristics and our weaknesses just cuts off our ties with God, making us to be left to deal with them by ourselves, thus making us inevitably to be their victim…

I found this post in trees, which I have seen so many times before, yet never truly. All of a sudden today I saw how their creation, the way it is, carries a lesson, a direction, and a wisdom for mankind. What a wonder. Had to share it..

2 comments:

Donald said...

A lot of wisdom in trees. A lot of wisdom in this blog too! This post really made me stop and think.

I'm not sure what faith you belong to 3rd, but in my own journey (Christian) I've been noticing that this is such a recurring theme in the Bible... God chooses man (or woman) to do something. Man fails, or is scared of failing. God says, I know you're weak — just trust in my strength and do as your told! :) If man is obedient, God brings success. In other words, God's not asking us to stand up in our own strength. He actually wants us to depend on him — like branches attached to an unbreakable vine, to borrow Jesus' own tree analogy.

Forgive me for quoting scripture (I know it's not the done thing in these comments) but I love this:

'But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.'

Anonymous said...

Assalamu alaikum

Jazak Allah Khair for that.