LISTEN!

Sometimes we have little flashes of insight and we don't recognize them . We don't act on them. Sometimes we don't understand until later that we could have saved time and anxiety by being more in tune with the Spirit.

I have a funny story for you.

This morning in the pre-dawn hours as I was going into a light sleeping period

I was dream/thinking about one of our sixty year- old apple trees. Two years ago, a big wind blew down from the mountains and ripped off a large limb. But the tree was sturdy and produced a decent crop. Last year a big wind blowing off the desert came through town and blew off the other large limb. We cut off a few of the small branches and brought them into the house to enjoy the apple blossoms.

Towards the end of the summer, I looked up at the poor twelve -foot tall stump of the tree in sorrow for its loss. I was surprised  to see a dozen leafy green twigs poking out of the top of that stump like a soldier with his crew cut. I’m trying he was saying to me. I’ve faced diversity many times, but I’m still trying. This spring, still trying, the tree put out limb, after limb, after limb. Suckers grew all the way down the trunk till it looks like a giant bush. We had our pear tree looked at by an expert years ago who told us that those suckers indicated that the tree was dying and we should cut it down. But, we saved it.  This morning I was trying to think of who we could get to come cut the suckers and excess limbs; to prune it and try to save it.

As the sun started coming up and the birds began to sing, my husband got up to feed the cats, who think that’s the first thing that he should do every morning.

“Oh! No! he cried. During the night Lenny the cat had pried open the sliding glass door to go for a stroll. My husband ran around the outside of the house in his pajamas looking for the cat. On the second rotation, calling the cat’s name, he heard a weak, frightened mew. “Lenny?” he called looking up. Lenny the cat, who had never climbed a tree before, was cowering at the top of that poor old apple tree, hidden from whatever creature of the night had spooked him, by a hundred little limbs. The tree was still trying. After feeling rescued, Lenny tore across the lawn; into the garage, scratching at the door. “Let me in! Oh please let me in”!

He was still terrified.

God loves the little creatures. He loves the trees and the flowers. He loves us, and he loves you. He is ever mindful of all our needs. If we listen, we can learn many things.