Thank you, Lord, for the pretty shadows on the lawn — hints of gladness, they are.
Big trees cast big shadows. We love the trees surrounding our home despite the fact that they require quite a bit of cleaning up after. Twigs, branches, leaves, and nuts quite often snap and crunch underfoot — a mere price to pay for the hints of gladness our trees provide.
When I Am Among the Trees
When I am among the trees,
especially the willows and the honey locust,
equally the beech, the oaks and the pines,
they give off such hints of gladness.
I would almost say that they save me, and daily.
I am so distant from the hope of myself,
in which I have goodness, and discernment,
and never hurry through the world
but walk slowly, and bow often.
Around me the trees stir in their leaves
and call out, “Stay awhile.”
The light flows from their branches.
And they call again, “It’s simple,” they say,
“and you too have come
into the world to do this, to go easy, to be filled
with light, and to shine.”
