Monday, April 20, 2009

Trees

Out of my kitchen window stands these tall trees that stretch up into the sky and pierce the clouds with their many leaves and branches. I am not sure how many are out there, a mere glance tells me at least a hundred but I am just not sure.
What is certain is that they are there, coloring the canvas of my mind with elegance and grace. Minor differences are present but they are all pretty much the same. Not one stands out from the other as they are all laden with beauty and all covered the same; same bark, same branches, same nakedness as for now they have been stripped of their leaves. They are uniform and not very distinct but they are trees, systematically planted and lined up in quaint little rows so as to diffuse any argument that might occur among them about who is the best tree, or who is the tallest tree, or who is the thinnest.
What if people were like these trees. Not all trees but these specifically. What if we were all beautiful and what if we were all tall, what if we were all uniform, what if we were all the same. What if we all wore the same clothing, and all had the same accent, and spoke the same language, and believed God exactly the same. They there would not be wars and rumors of wars as there would be nothing to fight about. Then there would not be any competition- jealousy and rage would cease to exist as we would all look the same and consist of the same stuff. We would all be of the same political party; whether we would all be Democrats or Republicans I am not sure, but maybe it would not even matter because we would all think the same things and believe the same things.
Though this sounds fanciful, it also sounds, I don't know, a little boring to me. Although there would be no fighting, no strife, no conflict, no dying, no competition, no crying there would also be no distinctness, no me-ness, no separation from where you start and where I begin. There would not be variety, color, a sharpening of the minds and intellect, no creativity, no innovativeness, no need for a Savior (as trees don't need a Savior) as we would all be the same and look the same and act the same and live the same.
Perhaps the question then is not how I make you more like me but how you can remain who you are with all of your wonderful distinctions while being in relationship with me, coming forth with all of mine. to me, this is the greater miracle of unity and harmony and reconcilation in the world- how people of different faces and different races can still come together and become one!

1 comment:

Rachel said...

Uniformity is not UNITY.

What makes the Kingdom a revolution is that we include everyone in the family. And we are all different.

AND Variety is BEAUTIFUL!

I love birch trees, pines, maples, cherry trees, and especially the blue spruce outside my window. Even trees are unique and special. Each together makes the landscape interesting and beautiful.

Thanks for your thought Ebony.