What if we sat at the feet of elderly people and revered them and appreciated their experiences and wisdom? What if we asked them if we could feel their skin and wrinkles? What if we asked Grandma how she met Grandpa? What if we asked them how they chose their professions? What if we asked what it was like to live during World War II? What if we asked them if they had old journals or diaries and if we could read them together? What if we asked them what kind of music they listened to growing up and then listened to it together? What if we made plaques commemorating what astounding individuals they are and put them on their doorposts so everybody could see? What if we respected the elderly as much as we respected old trees?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A PRAYER FOR THE TREES<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I asked my mom about the tree comparison recently. At 79 years old, she says she is ready to \u201cbow out\u201d of the woods and let the younger trees rise up and take her place. She told me all her (older) friends feel the same way. She said it\u2019s okay if a crazy virus takes her life. \u201cGod knows the number of my days. It\u2019s the classic circle of life. I\u2019m okay to make way for you younger trees to rise up and have your time in the sun.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My prayer for you and for me, is that as we age, we can be like the trees.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

May we all, at the end of our days, be able to say our roots go down deep, that we provided shelter and food and a home for those in our vicinity with need. May our exterior not be perfect, but showing clear signs of wear and tear that signify we have lived fully \u2013 engaged in the difficult but necessary work of life. May we say that although our presence in the \u201cforest\u201d around us ended, we did, indeed, encourage growth to our surroundings and may we look about us and recognize a whole forest of younger people ready to take over our many roles of service. And may those young people look up to us patriarch trees and say, \u201cIt has been nice having you in my forest. I\u2019d never be who I am today without you in my life.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When we moved back from Morocco, I noticed a lot of dead trees \u2013 many more than what I remembered from before our move. I kept mentioning this to others and they\u2019d say they hadn\u2019t noticed and then they\u2019d look at me quizzically, as if their worst fears were realized: Yep. She was brainwashed by […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3979,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n