The Perfect Tree

This time of year, as I walk around the neighborhood surrounding my job, I think about the perfect tree. It would bloom for several weeks in the spring and smell as wonderful as it looked. In the summer it would be a sturdy shade tree, and in the autumn its foliage would turn brilliant colors. Maybe it would even produce delicious fruit. And of course it would live for many years. Now I don’t know if any tree can fulfill all my wishes, and since I live in a condo and am not in control of landscaping, it’s sort of a moot point, but then I thought maybe there is a spiritual application of this desire in my life. Am I the best “tree” that I can be? Trees that bloom sometimes don’t have lovely fall foliage. Trees that produce fruit sometimes don’t live a long time. Trees with beautiful blossoms sometimes don’t have any scent. In the same way, sometimes people with one virtue are lacking in another, and maybe this is a call for me to examine my own life. Am I seeming to do so well in one area that I have let another area of my spiritual growth go? Could I become a soul that blooms AND turns brilliant colors? It’s certainly a question worth pursuing.

Famous Hat