Q. C of Clive, Iowa writes: Tell us about the relationship between cottonwoods and lightning. 

A. I come from a long line of magnificent giants. Tall, and stately, we cottonwoods reach to the heavens with joy- a joy and pleasure in the unfolding of our seed’s promise, of becoming what we were created to be. To expand is to be alive! Yet, to be alive is to live with the certainty of death at some unknowable time.

We trees have all lived and died a thousand or more times since the beginning of what you call time. Always accepting the great adventure of life’s invitation and expansion with a YES! Saying yes to life is also saying yes to the risk of a lightning strike and a sudden shocking destruction. We would not limit our reach or height for fear of the white blast of death from the sky. For that would stunt and bastardize our true nature; that would be a betrayal of life itself, of our purpose and potential.

We grow, reaching into the heavens knowing that lightning may strike, yet we endure and continue. If lightning comes, and it does to many, we will exit this lifetime in a blaze of fireworks! We become a fiery bridge of powerful life-giving energy from heaven to earth as the final act of this lifetime.