Looking at that tree, with the back drop of the rising sun, helps me find center. It's something outside myself I suppose, a focal point that doesn't contain world worries and anxieties within it's branches or leaves, something that stays steady despite the news and constant stream of turmoil that seems to flood in around us. For those few moments each day I step outside all that and in blatant shirk of responsibility I forget that I have any other ties than to that tree or perhaps the ebb and flow of the flight pattern of birds above it.
Dennis and I talked about something similar to that last night. The night before he had quipped about me making my cover photo on Facebook a row of chickens on a roosting bar despite all the seriousness that we were facing in the world around us. Last night, however, he ran across a poem by Wendell Berry, "The Peace of Wild Things." Upon showing it to me and proclaiming how great it was, I told him, "that's why I have chickens for a cover photo." The sentiment in that poem is the same as my reason for staring at trees and photographing chickens. I'd like to post the poem here but I'm a little uncertain of the copyright issues surrounding it so instead I'll post a link to a website that you can find it at:
I will also quote one line:
"For a time I rest in the grace of the world, and am free."
Wendell Berry~From: The Peace of Wild Things
So you see, I know that staring at a tree in the mornings and posting pictures of pretty birds won't solve the worlds problems but for a moment at least it does solve mine. And maybe, just maybe, if we were all to find a bit of grace in things like these perhaps we could spread that grace on to help calm and soothe the rest of the world.
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