Winter Landscape

As we drive through the country during winter, I notice that the trees are barren and striking in their stark outlines.

Everybody looks forward to the burgeoning leaves and their infinite shades of green in the spring and summer.

And I admit that I, also, eagerly await the greening of the forest.

But I am trying to discern God’s hands in everything, even the short, cold, winter days and the shapes of the trees, stark against the sky.

The very pared-down forms of the trees in winter allow me to enjoy an infinity of shapes denied by the bushiness of foliage in spring that reduces one tree to looking very much like another.

In winter, we can see the uniqueness of each tree.

One could even see winter trees as an exercise in spiritual democracy.

All the trees have different shapes, but there is a pleasing silhouette to them all.

The trees accept their differences.

If only people could accept their differences as easily as they do.

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