Peace Part 7
August 31, 2025
Peace Part 7
When I was a little boy, I loved to climb trees. The higher I climbed, the better it was.
The higher in the tree I climbed, the more limber were its branches, and the more of a “ride” I could get. Not only could I see my rooftop, but I also spied all the neighbors’ roofs and yards. Up there, swaying in the tree, I was one with its branches and moved with the limbs in concert with the wind.
As I write this reflection, I look at an amazingly high tree outside my window. It is several hundred feet high. I see those branches near the top and imagine my little self, swaying in the breeze. What peace I had when I was one with the tree. And what peace I can still embody when imagining myself up there once again.
Why does embodying and becoming one with the tree make me feel peaceful? I think the answer is that the tree is rooted, tall, strong, solid, and alive! It holds, surrounds, and gives me a glimpse of the world seen only from its vantage point. It is part of my essence because it is courageous, strong, and faithful. It is part of everyone’s essence in some aspect because the tree is a living testament to the One True Essence to which all our essences arose and are connected.
Nature has all forms of returning us to our essence. At the beach, I quickly return to my soul child who becomes one with the sand, waves, sea air, and the sound of the gulls above. Standing on the water’s edge barefoot as a child, I sank deeper and deeper into the sand with each apron of surf that passed over my feet. I was part of it all. As a child, I never knew I was not part of it, but in life's journey, we separate ourselves from the soul child years and we tend to feel separate from Oneness.
But how peaceful it is to return the journey to our soul child. Nature calls us to make that journey because, more than anything else, nature constantly invites us to be within it. Somehow, it knows we are part of it, and as the ground of our being, it calls us back to the purity and goodness of our true selves. I am so peaceful right now, as I imagine myself held in the strong branches of the tall tree outside my window.
Spiritual practice: Can you imagine a part of nature that holds you? What is that like for you in terms of recalling your essence?
Self-inquiry: What would you be like if you were to embody your essence fully?
Dear God, I am there in the everlasting arms. Amen
