I believe I have mentioned that outside my office window is a very large oak tree. All winter I have watched what I believe is a squirrel’s nest made from dead oak leaves. I have seen at least one squirrel-can you actually tell them apart?- taking morsels of food to the nest.I had hoped to see if there were babies in there or if the nest was just the winter cabinet for abandoned food the squirrel(s) wanted to keep safe. Yesterday I noticed that the nest had lost its full form and now looks like a few straggly leaves that just forgot to fall during the proper season. So, I either missed something…..or nothing. Who knows?

The giant oak is now busy forming leaves which will entertain me through the summer and into the autumn, reminding me of the gentle movement of time. But while it is slowly greening up it is being overshadowed by its neighbor the crab apple tree. Brilliant hot pink blossoms light up the backyard of the parsonage. They scream "Look at me! Look at me!" Like a young girl dressing up for prom, pink petals drape the branches for a brief, beautiful walk in the world. For these short days the pink dances outside my window and distracts me from the mundane of white paper, silver paperclips, gray carpet, even grayer walls.I want to be able to express my thanks for the beauty of it all……

Sorry….Mary Oliver again…."When I am among trees, especially the willows and the honey locust, equally the beech, the oaks and the pines, they give off such hints of gladness. I would almost say that they save me, and daily. I am so distant from the hope of myself, in which I have goodness, and discernment, and never hurry through the world but walk slowly, and bow often. Around me the trees stir in their leaves and call out "Stay awhile." The light flows from their branches. And they call again, "It’s simple,"they say, "and you too have come into the world to do this, to go easy, to be filled with light, and to shine."

I am  filled today with gratitude for the trees…for show-off-pink…for the poet who can express with words for me what my heart feels, oh so beautiful, and the reminder to go easy and to shine.