Soul Food Gallery

EVERGREEN

awarded for knowing one’s inherent worth and acting accordingly

Evergreen’s Message:

A few winters back, in the days of early stay-at-home mom land, I needed to take a walk in nature to center myself. Ideas of grandeur came over me as I envisioned driving to an arboretum and taking the walk of all nature walks.

Yet, I had a deeper awareness that my responsibilities and priorities had changed and l knew enough to know that in the era I was in, that kind of walk was not going to happen.

I also knew it was a grand luxury to have a small piece of time to myself with our daughter happily in other good hands. So, I embraced what I could have, which was a walk around my neighborhood.

Although part of me questioned how any profound wisdom from nature could show up in a walk around my subdivision, I remained open and obedient to my intuition and commitment to self-care.

And I walked.

I walked to the little cul-de-sac with trees in the middle that was new to me.

And that’s where I found it...

The Christmas Tree…on the street with the rest of the garbage.

This beautiful tree who had been sacrificed for the Christmas season, to bring joy and warmth and tradition into the home was just discarded without a thought, without honoring it as once alive.

Now, don’t get me wrong. I love cutting down a real Christmas tree.

I feel trees come for different purposes, just like people. 

If you are born a Redwood, you want to be left alone to grow big and strong within a legendary community of elders. 

On the other hand, if you are born a Christmas tree,

you want to be The Legend.

You want to be absolutely adored and decorated while making a very specific and efficient statement as a tree.

Your life and the way you use it, is the gift.

Very much like Freddy Mercury, Anne Frank, Bob Marley, Jim Croce, Gilda Radner, John Lennon and Martin Luther King.

All who are truly evergreen.

But, as much as I get this about trees, I also believe a Christmas tree should be honored in the process of this tradition. 

I always ask the tree's permission before cutting it down.

Some say yes and some say no.

And, it’s all good…I speak vibe.

And you do, too.

Oh you think you don’t. Well, I’m pretty sure dogs can’t talk, but that matters very little when the two of you need to have a conversation.

Anyway, we then celebrate our tree during the Christmas season and, instead of throwing it out, we make it into firewood to use throughout the year. It’s our way of honoring the tree and giving it back to Mother Nature. Thus, my recipe for good tree juju.

Now, getting back to the story…

At first, I just feel bad and walk past the tree.

And then I realize, I have to take it. 

Not wanting to steal from my neighbors, I walk up to the door, nervously knock and ask if I could take the tree home with me for firewood. 

The guy was very nice and seemed glad I could do something good with it. He never thought of it and had no use for firewood.

So, I dragged it home with me, not caring what I looked like, said a little prayer with it and that was that. Our sacred firewood pile would be twice as big this year.

So, to those who have earned The Soul Success Medal for Humanity: Evergreen, the message from The Discarded Christmas Tree is this:

Don’t worry if others don’t know what to do with you or properly care for you after you’ve given them everything you’ve got. 

Sometimes the people we’d most like to love and care for us,

don’t or can’t or have no idea how to do it. 

This does not mean we are garbage. 

Maybe all they knew to do was let you go.

Maybe it’s the best thing they ever did for you. 

Honor yourself and trust that there are always new people and new things to become, even when we think we have been discarded and left comfortless. 

There will be someone, someday who picks you up.

They will recognize your worth and your journey.

They’ll say, “I see you.

I know you gave your best. I’m sorry it’s been hard.

I’m sorry they didn’t understand.”

Until they show up, it is vital that you see you.

And know how to, when necessary, compassionately pick yourself up off of the ground.

And it’s also important to note, that I don’t consider my neighbors and their unconscious behavior to be “bad” people. Perhaps they aren’t making the choices I would make, but at the end of the day, they are learning and evolving, just like me.

And I can recognize the gift of our interaction by thanking them for indirectly providing us with this powerful message whose catalyst was their discarded Christmas tree.

Just another example of the age old wisdom that all beings work together for good.

A toast to the seasons of ourselves and a knowing in the depth of our being that regardless of what state we are in and how useful or useless we are to others we are inherently worthy. 

If you have earned or are earning this Soul Success Medal for Humanity, please place your hand on your heart and claim it for yourself.

The Soul Success Medals for Humanity at Soul Food Gallery