Tuesday, May 30, 2017

ESSENCE

Out walking recently in this spring weather, I came upon a maple leaf that was lying on the sidewalk. It looked like a soggy bedraggled remnant from the previous fall.
But when I picked it up, I realized it was not a bedraggled and fragile remnant, but a piece of lace as delicate and resilient as a spider's web.
Like this leaf, we are pummeled, blown, washed, thrashed, frozen, and thawed, by time and life, until all extraneous matter is worn away, and only our enduring essence is left.

9 comments:

  1. Beautiful, both your words and the leaf

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  2. ah, and all life is as miraculous and beautiful when its essence is examined. another thoughtful and inspiring post, wendy. thank you.

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  3. Feeling like this leaf this morning and trying to figure out what that essence actually is! Nice reminder that there can be something left after all.

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  4. I share a similar message with my students (college frosh) at semester's end: I give them each a sea-smoothed stone that I harvested the previous summer, and hold one myself. I say that like the stones, we've been tumbled, tossed, and battered by circumstances, but we're still strong--and even more beautiful in essence.

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