Message From A Tree

When hubby and I chose the house we call home, or should I say when our home chose us, one of the things that attracted us to this particular home was the abundance of trees in the backyard. Hubby love wanted to have a home that was convenient to work and grocery stores, and I wanted a touch of nature and the feeling I can only get from being connected to the earth. This home had both. Eleven trees adorned the otherwise smallish back yard. As soon as the papers were signed, I went about installing a small pond, which I had purchased previous to buying the house. In other words, the house we chose had to have a place for a pond. There were no other options.

My pond and my trees have been a source of comfort and bliss to us and our family and friends over the years. I am not shy to tell the neighbors that our yard spirits protect our family of fish and I am sure to give them gifts for their blessing to us and for allowing us to cohabit with them.

A few weeks ago my neighbor, who had the blessing of having "grandmother" tree on her property, had grandmother cut down. I was devasted. At first. She explained that grandmother was hollow and was in danger of falling on her home and doing much damage. Her time had come to an end. My property contained one tree that was in danger of falling or damaging another's neighbor's property, and I agreed that it was possibly time to take her down.

When the tree guy came, he "talked me into" cutting down three trees. The one I knew needed to come down, and two others that he said were in need of coming down as well, just because none of the trees were going to continue to flourish because they were choking each other out.

I agreed.

For some reason I didn't consult the trees first.

I didn't really consult hubby either.

Hubby was not happy.

I imagined that the trees were mad at me as well. I apologized profusely. But it was too late. There were now only stacks of wood where three trees once stood. I was wracked in guilt.

Now my pond was more open to the sky so the sunlight hit the pond more than before. I imagined that the trees had actually protected my fish from predators in the sky. I apologized to the fish. To the fairies. To the tree spirits.

I never really felt that they were mad at me, although my guilt was overwhelming. I gave them gifts in respect to the cut down trees and asked that the tree spirits continue to live in peace with hubby and me.

Today I was out walking and connected once again with the spirits of the trees. (I can do that without actually being with them or touching them. Just thinking about them brings their spirit to me.) I saw the three tree spirits as I had seen a few days before when talking to them in the backyard. They were laughing. They were laughing at me.

"You silly girl," they said to me. "Do you think we did not put the idea in your head at the moment you were talking to the tree guy?"

"We are much more aware of the balance of life than you are. We would much rather come down peacefully without harming you than allow Nature to take us down and do damage to your home. We love you. We knew we had outgrown our space. It was we who put the thoughts in your minds to cut us down. We knew if you thought about it too much you would have talked yourself out of it."

OMG.

It had never occurred to me that the trees had allowed me to have them cut down or had even put the idea in my head that it needed to be done. I still have eight beautiful trees in the yard. Yes it is a little more sunny now than before. My fish are still there and doing well. Apparently the fairies are still protecting them. I actually saw the spirits of the trees that were cut down. They are in spirit form now. And they are at peace.

This story does have a message.

Live at peace with this planet you call home. This is also the home of the trees, the spiders, the flies, the bees, and all of the other living and nonliving. If you take something, give a gift in return. Always ask permission before taking something, and be thankful after. Don't kill something just because it is in your space. Maybe you are the one invading its space.

Just because you are a human being doesn't mean you are at the top of the evolutionary scale and everything else is here for your use or disposal. Be respectful of other life that calls this planet home. Live at peace as much as possible.