When I Grow Up I Hope to be a Live Southern Oak

The first photo is my tree. Well, not officially, but I call it as mine all the same. I spent my Sunday mediation time studying a live Southern Oak and this is what I aspire to be when I one day. But I must specify that I want to be the oak in the first photo. The oak in the second photo is struggling because it has not stayed ahead of the Spanish Moss and it may have lost enough leaf surface area to cause it to lose its ability to feed itself properly and that will be a death knell. While I was sitting and meditating beneath the branches of the huge, healthy tree in the matter of only a few seconds I was able to spot a squirrel, a jay, a flicker, a chickadee, a stag-horn fern, resurrection fern, mushrooms, lichen, and, of course, Spanish moss, not to mention a huge variety of insect life. All of these creatures were being supported by the magnificent tree. The tree has reached this state of magnificence because it learned balance as a young sapling. It was aggressive enough to keep its leaf growth ahead of the Spanish moss and used the food from those leaves to anchor itself deeply into the ground so that it could withstand the buffeting of the winds even with the added stress of the Spanish moss throwing off its equilibrium. As the tree grew and its large branches formed and spread other plants found a home there, air ferns and bromeliads settled in on the branches and found their way into the forks of branches and thrived. Birds nested in the tree, squirrels feasted on the acorns and insect colonies grew in its bark and roots and it took care of all of these plants and creatures and more.

As I contemplated all of this I came to understand that this is what I need to be in my life. I need to be like the oak who understands that it must aggressively make certain that it has enough of its own leaves and surface area to be fed so that it is strong enough to sustain all of the other lifeforms that rely on it. And with that foundation and strength, I need to allow others to lean on me and grow from me. But, like the resurrection fern, if those who are leaning on my don't find their own water, food, and nutrients, then they shrivel up and go dormant and there is nothing the tree can do, the fern is on its own. So much food for thought here that I am still trying to process. I love meditating in nature, I always get so much for my brain to chew on.