The Beatitude of a Dead Tree

When we bought our land 6 years ago this dead pine tree stood tall and proud. It was in a line with 6 other healthy pine trees and it was truly the most bedazzling. My husband only saw a dead tree and wanted to cut it down before our home was even built. I argued my point and thankfully the artist in me convinced him of the importance of the tree. As the years have went by more bark has fallen off and a critter as cut a perfect hole mid way up making the tree alive again as it welcomed the new home. There are no longer limbs branching out as those have all been reduced to mere splinters that are too short to sway in the wind. The tree top was recently broken off in a storm, making the tree shorter then it once stood, but it still finds it's place in the sky. It continues to stand out among the rest as the most becoming as it's character makes it more beautiful each day.

I think this tree is a good example of growing old gracefully. We should embrace each wrinkle earned. Let the hair we have now sway in the wind and continue to proudly display what we are left with as we age. We may become shorter than we once stood but we will have more character and beauty than ever before. Let the storms of our life only make us stand taller as we look towards our place in the sky.