Path with a Single Tree

Several weeks ago, I was zipping along a highway, watching the scenery flash by me. Sometime during this, I caught a brief glimpse of a small component of the countryside, which stayed with me...

What I saw was simply this...there was a narrow winding path leading through some patches of cultivated land. On either side of it were the sun-bleached remnants of harvested fields, in which I imagined the labour of some diligent farmer. Most interestingly, somewhere in the middle of it was a single tree.

This tree was by no means something that would catch your attention, if not for its unique position...it was the only tree in the picture...left kin-less for at least a hundred metres on all sides. It had well proportioned limbs and an abundance of dark green leaves. Its shade was like a wide-brimmed hat, exaggerated impressively by the late afternoon sun...and then the vision was gone, replaced by other flashes of the countryside as my car sped along towards its destination.

The scene reminded me of something that we often experience in life and a quaint pattern of metaphors unfolded. I saw every individual in the farmer... ploughing, sowing the field of life and reaping the harvest of his actions. In the path I saw the route that each person takes in his/her attempt to attain something fruitful, each step leading somewhere. Finally, in the shape of the tree, I saw a unique person...someone who enfolds the individual with his/her love and allows him/her to shed their worries, share their fears and find solace before he/she is recharged and is able to proceed on the path of life with new energy, quite like the farmer who seeks the shade of the tree at midday, for a little meal and a nap. The tree is always there for the farmer, it listens to his silent thoughts without judgement and opinion and it offers its shade unconditionally. The farmer leaves its shade each day with renewed vigour, able to take on the the remaining challenges of his day.

Do you have such a person in your life? I think you do...The next time you are conscious of him or her, do a little something to show your appreciation. The tree never demands anything of the farmer, but if, by chance he waters it, it is delighted.