The Oak Tree

Ready to be inspired?

I’ve had a really rough two months so I need all the inspiration I can get.

One thing I’ve learned in my short life (yeah, I consider almost 60 to still be “short”), is that when I focus on others I feel better. And so it was that I went to Hallmark and found a beautiful card that had a poem in it and mailed them off to two people who are struggling right now.

I could have sent this card to myself but, hey, that would have been a little weird, no?

Instead, I’ll share it with you.  If life is battering you and it feels like something is sitting on top of you and you’re barely able to get up, this poem is for you.

The Oak Tree

A mighty wind blew night and day
It stole the oak tree’s leaves away
Then snapped its boughs and pulled its bark
Until the oak was tired and stark

But still the oak tree held its ground
While other trees fell all around
The weary wind gave up and spoke.
How can you still be standing Oak?

The oak tree said, I know that you
Can break each branch of mine in two
Carry every leaf away
Shake my limbs, and make me sway

But I have roots stretched in the earth
Growing stronger since my birth
You’ll never touch them, for you see
They are the deepest part of me

Until today, I wasn’t sure
Of just how much I could endure
But now I’ve found, with thanks to you
I’m stronger than I ever knew.

Johnny Ray Rider, Jr.

It reminds me of an Old Testament Scripture …

“But blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord,
 whose confidence is in Him.
They will be like a tree planted by the water
   that sends out its roots by the stream.
It does not fear when heat comes;
   its leaves are always green.
It has no worries in a year of drought
  and never fails to bear fruit.”  

Jeremiah 17:7-8

As a friend of mine would say: Keep your chin up ~ all three of them.