07.26.06

A Lesson in the Leaves

Posted in Inspired at 7:25 am by April

Last night I was a little cold (no big surprise for me, I’m always cold), so I stepped out on the balcony to get some fresh air and warm up for a minute. It was perfect outside: warm with a nice cool wind. And it was quiet. Not a peep. I couldn’t hear the traffic. I didn’t hear any neighbors being obnoxious. No sirens. Even the noisy neighbors upstairs were silent. It was nice. I decided to stay outside for little while and enjoy the evening.

As I sat, I watched a little tree just in front of the balcony whip around in the wind. It wasn’t that windy, but since it’s not a very big tree, it doesn’t take much to move it. I sat for probably ten minutes watching this tree bend ninety degrees in wind, its leaves flipping uncontrollably. It suddenly became amazing to me that those little leaves, attached by such tiny little seemingly fragile stems, can hang on for dear life during the most destructive of storms. They get pulled, twisted, bent, and generally beat all to hell, but the next day, there they are. Soaking up the sunshine.

Pretty incredible, actually. Leaves aren’t strong. You can walk right up to one and rip it in half. So, how can they weather the storm? They’re flexible. When the wind blows, the leaves never try to stand rigid and fight, they simply move with it. They twist and bend and flip, and although it looks like they’re flying out of control, they hang in there. They never let go. The wind always moves on.

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