{"id":775,"date":"2017-03-14T21:37:46","date_gmt":"2017-03-14T21:37:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/yourmorningcupofinspiration\/?p=775"},"modified":"2017-03-14T21:37:46","modified_gmt":"2017-03-14T21:37:46","slug":"being-like-a-tree","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/yourmorningcupofinspiration\/2017\/03\/being-like-a-tree.html","title":{"rendered":"Being Like a Tree"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"snow<\/a><\/p>\n

Today, in the Northeast, we are having a blizzard. I am blessed to be viewing it from inside my warm home office where I can enjoy a view of the woods behind\u00a0our house.<\/p>\n

Some of our tall evergreens are being pushed back and forth by the wind. They don\u2019t seem to mind.\u00a0 It appears that they know that in a month, it will be spring and life will be dramatically different.\u00a0 There will be warm weather, rain showers on occasion, and sunshine.<\/p>\n

If only we could view the storms of life in the same way. The problem is that we expect life to be nothing but smooth sailing.\u00a0 When we have bumps in the road, we think, \u201cThis isn\u2019t normal<\/em>.\u00a0 Something must be very wrong.\u201d<\/p>\n

My trees don\u2019t think that there is anything wrong with this blizzard. It is just a natural part of the seasons.\u00a0 If only we could view our occasional problems in the same way.\u00a0 If only we could view problems as being a natural part of life.<\/p>\n

That is hard to do. I\u2019ve spent the better part of my adult life trying to prevent problems.\u00a0 I\u2019ve given a lot of mental energy to anticipating what could possibly go wrong.\u00a0 And then I\u2019ve tried to think of all the ways I can prevent these bad things from happening.<\/p>\n

But you know what? My tactics haven\u2019t worked all that well.\u00a0 I lost my job during the recession.\u00a0 I got divorced.\u00a0 My wonderful dog of 16 years died two days after I left on vacation.\u00a0 I haven\u2019t been able to prevent either emotional pain or loss in my life.<\/p>\n

However, the older I get, the more I become like the trees in my backyard. I\u2019ve stopped expecting life to be perfect.\u00a0 More importantly, I\u2019ve stopped being mad at God when my life has been so very imperfect.\u00a0 I am learning to accept occasional problems as a natural part of life, like my trees accept the occasional blizzard.<\/p>\n

Life has storms, sunshine and seasons. My trees know this.\u00a0 They don\u2019t fight against it.\u00a0 They don\u2019t work feverishly to prevent blizzards because that would be impossible.<\/p>\n

Yet, we do exactly that. We try to prevent blizzards.\u00a0 We try to control other people so they won\u2019t hurt us.\u00a0 We try to keep our jobs by overworking ourselves, even though we could be let go due to downsizing or an economic downturn.\u00a0 Some things in life, like blizzards, are completely out of our control.<\/p>\n

This week, think about how you can be more like a tree. When we accept that problems are a natural part of life, we are able to deal with them more effectively.\u00a0 We don\u2019t get caught up in thoughts of \u201cWoe is me,\u201d or \u201cLife is so unfair.\u201d\u00a0 Instead, be like a tree.\u00a0 Accept that there will be snow and rain.\u00a0 But also know that there will be sunny days and beautiful, starry nights.<\/p>\n

(Photo Courtesy of Pexels)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Today, in the Northeast, we are having a blizzard. I am blessed to be viewing it from inside my warm home office where I can enjoy a view of the woods behind\u00a0our house. Some of our tall evergreens are being pushed back and forth by the wind. They don\u2019t seem to mind.\u00a0 It appears that…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":593,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-775","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nBeing Like a Tree - Your Morning Cup of Inspiration<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/yourmorningcupofinspiration\/2017\/03\/being-like-a-tree.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Being Like a Tree - Your Morning Cup of Inspiration\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Today, in the Northeast, we are having a blizzard. 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