“We can speak without voice to the trees and the clouds and the waves of the sea. Without words they respond through the rustling of leaves and the moving of clouds and the murmuring of the sea.” – Paul Tillich
(I first published this post on another blog in 2014. Someone brought it to my attention today and it seemed right to re-publish it here, now.)
When trees speak, their message is not so much heard as felt.
I felt them speaking to me, their voices percolating inward, cresting my consciousness as I approached the top of the ridge.
The day was gray and moist. Tiny droplets settled on my face, on my hair, collecting, commingling, until finally they gathered enough collective momentum to run in tiny streams over my lips, my cheeks, my brow.
The message of the trees emerged.
“You are trying too hard,” they said.
It was not a whisper.
“You don’t have to try to solve the problems of the world. Just be who you are and you will make a difference. All you have to do is be.”
Be yourself? Is that what they were telling me?
Who knew trees spoke in cliches?
But who am I to argue?
Take a moment to listen to the trees today. What are they saying to you? What difference will you let it make in your life?