Cottonwood seedpods and bark

My roots anchor me deeply to the earth. I am content to be here now, day after day, year after year, feeling the seasons shift, the sun’s warmth growing stronger as the earth turns toward spring. The winds and lightning, cleansing rains, the dear ones who share life with me here on this fringe of open meadow. I wake to my home, my circle of life.

After my long winter’s nap, I am gently opening to the birdsong and the frenetic activity of nest building and seed sprouting all around me. Groggy insects crawling out of their nests greet the warmth.

Vultures soar overhead against a backdrop of dramatic spring clouds. They’re back from their exotic winter home, come back to grace our air and land with their effortless easy sky dance as they catch the white sunlight on their magnificent wings.

I feel the millions of buds on my crown beginning to swell, the life force flowing into the tiny embryonic seed pods forming just as they have for millennia.

I am an integral element of this earth, I belong and so my dear, do you. We are all meant to be here. Your dear energy, your gifts and talents, your emotions, and thoughts are all part of this delightful tapestry that we call life.

Diminish yourself or any one of the creatures who make this earth home, and you diminish the whole, and yourself with it. Know yourself as a vital thread in the tapestry of life on our beautiful green earth.