A giant falls
Do you ever feel that life is swirling around you?
It is.
The ancient Greek philosopher Heraclitus put it this way:
Everything flows and nothing abides, Everything gives way and nothing stays fixed.
I experienced this truth dramatically last night. The willow tree beside the pond, which is really three willows that entwined their trunks when they were young to form one massive tree, split open and more than half of it fell to the ground with a mighty thump.
As I viewed the fallen limbs of the giant tree this morning, that quip by Heraclitus came to mind. Yes, indeed, nothing abides. Everything eventually gives way. Nothing stays the same.
For thirty years this spreading tree has provided shade. It was a perch for kingfishers and kookaburras. Small birds nested within its branches. And when the grandchildren came, Rob hung swings so they could while away the afternoons flying skywards as high as they dared.
Suddenly, the view from the kitchen and lounge room has changed. There is a lot more sky visible and ibis feeding on the long grass near the northern boundary are no longer hidden by the tree’s thick foliage. The part that remains upright looks lopsided and awkward, as if it needs to adjust to its new dimensions.
I can’t put the tree back together again. I can’t wish it back to its former glory. There’s no point being angry or annoyed or frustrated about what has happened. All I can do is accept that it has fallen, thank it for what it gave to our family, and help Rob as he chainsaws and removes the evidence that it once stood tall.
Change is Everywhere.
Most change is incremental. A bit at a time. It happens so slowly that our senses can’t detect it. If we were able to notice all the changes happening every second, we’d be overwhelmed with too much information. Our senses let in enough for us to survive and thrive.
It’s only when big changes happen, like a tree falling, or the earth opening at our feet, or an illness manifesting in a way we can no longer ignore, that we become aware that the unfolding, the flowing, the giving way that is always happening, unseen, has led to this moment.
And as the moment reveals the great change that is finally happening within it, that is when acceptance plays an important part in our lives. Acceptance keeps us in the flow of ever-changing life. Acceptance helps us work with what is happening in the best possible way.
Change is Inevitable
Change is inevitable. A year is winding to its end. The moon will soon begin a new cycle. The iridescent blue cornflowers and pinkish poppies have gone to seed. Green beans throw out red flowers as they climb the wire netting. Baby willy-wags that hatched outside my bedroom window now flit across blades of grass as they source bite-size bugs. And yesterday the optometrist detected the faint hint of a cataract in my left eye.
To live is to change.
The Legacy of the Willow Tree
The legacy the willow tree has left me with is an awareness of what it did during its life, and a desire to do the same:
to be a source of shade for others in the heat of life as it has been for me;
to offer a place beside me for others to rest;
for my words to be a swinging off point so others can wing skyward as far as they dare.
I can’t bring it back, but I’ll never forget the wonderful willow tree that graced our garden at Evergreen for thirty years.
With love, Marlane
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