Tuesday, November 22, 2011

dreaming of spring


In case you were wondering, here is what my tree looks like today. Her brilliant, fiery leaves are gone, and if you didn't know any better, you'd think she was dead. But she's not dead. There is still life down deep in her roots and inside her frozen branches. She's bracing for the icy darkness and dreaming of spring.


You can't see it from the first picture, but there's a squirrel huddled high in her arms. Squirrels remind me that God is near. They are odd little messengers of all that is holy. Even on this grey day, God is fighting through the fog to whisper my name. I'm glad I hear him and that he cares to stick out the season here with me. I'm glad today that there's life deep in my branches and roots. I'm glad that the ice cannot reach far into the ground where I store my memories.

Today I will stretch and exercise my body to get my sluggish blood flowing. I will exchange some spicy quinoa and lentils for some soup that my friend has made. I will write and write and write until my fingers and back beg me to stop. And all the while, I'll be dreaming of spring and the avalanche of green that is not so far away after all. I'll remember that God is near.

5 comments:

  1. Hey Terri.
    My grandma loved squirrels too. Except she did not see God anywhere near them. She saw lunch! She used to eat them. Nasty. Who does that? I think grandma was from the mountains or something. She probably attended one of those back-woods snake handling churches back in the day.

    I would be afraid to eat a squirrel. I would be thinking I was chomping down on one of Alvin or Theodore's distant cousins. I would wake up in the middle of the night humming to a Chipmunks tune. I can hear them singing now....."We Wish You a Merry Christmas. We Wish You a Merry Christmas."

    I would have nightmares of Alvin chasing me with a knife, and in a deep, gruff voice saying, "We wish you a Merry Christmas you devilish human that ate my cousin Sparky. You see this blade?.....you're our Christmas ham! It's gonna be nightmare on Christmas for you!" Alvin would probably be cursing, but I wouldn't repeat what he said because I have toned it down.

    :) I have changed a lot, Terri. But I'm not dead yet. How on earth did I get all this from your blog? I went totally off script didn't I? I do the same thing on Christianne's blog. I am all over the place. Is this a sign of bi-polar? It could be. If it is, don't tell me. I want to remain in denial.

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  2. Oh Tammy, I don't know how you extracted this from my post, but it sure is funny. I think your brain ping pongs off the first thing that strikes you as absurd. And it is kind of absurd to be reminded of God when you see a squirrel. I think of God and you think of Gramma and Alvin and the Chipmunks. God must really have a sense of humor. :)

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  3. I like that ping pong thought Terri. Tis true. That really is the way my mind works. Just watch, this comment will prove it. I never know where we will end up.

    I don't think your thoughts on squirrels is absurd at all. I think all of nature should somehow point us to God and bring a sense of holy wonder across our minds. What about snakes though? That must have been Noah's fault. Maybe God would have wiped them out, but Noah sipped a little too much "grape juice" and let a few slip on by.

    You know he had a stash somewhere. Good lord, he was about to be shut in with his family for an unforeseen amount of time. Actually, it was probably one of his sons that bootlegged the snake on board because he wanted to keep it as a pet.

    See, this is why there are so many DUI's near the holidays. If no one had to deal with eccentric family members (who harbor snakes for pets) the DUI rate would drop drastically.

    What was I saying? Oh yeah, animals...A few yrs ago, I wanted to study zoology because I wanted to snoop around and find glimpses of the finger of God. Really. I'm serious.

    But, a taste of biology deterred that thought quickly. If I can't figure out humans (and I think I am one.....some days that's debatable) I certainly am not going to figure out animals. I would like to audit a course on that though.....fascinating.

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  4. I hate to tell you this, but spring is dog years away. or is that squirrel years? good thing our trees don't know that. I wonder at their patience - been working on a poem about a tree. natch.

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