Previous Challenge Entry (Level 4 – Masters)
Topic: PRIDE (inflated opinion of one’s self) (02/19/15)
-
TITLE: I Am the Tree | Previous Challenge Entry
By Francy Judge
02/26/15 -
LEAVE COMMENT ON ARTICLE
SEND A PRIVATE COMMENT
ADD TO MY FAVORITES
When a flock of birds flew her way, threatening to land on her branches, she waved ferociously until they scattered to find a calmer place to rest. When squirrels raced up her back, tickling her trunk, she hung her leaves low until they slid off and played at some other tree. No bee could buzz, nor inchworm inch anywhere around her royal bark. Whenever any animal, large or small, approached her trunk, she’d sing:
“I am the tree…
My leaves are for dancing,
To sway in the breeze;
Not for birds singing
Or squirrels or bees.
I am the tree.
Don’t mess with me!”
One day, as she waved to her reflection, she noticed a change. Her emerald green leaves were almost completely golden. “Is that really me? Why, I’m more beautiful than ever now, like the golden sun.” Her reflection wiggled in the water’s ripples. A chill ran up her bark. Soon the wind picked up speed and raised her branches. The tree struggled with all her might to hug her branches close, but it was no use. Gusting winds tossed her arms, bending them in unnatural positions.
“I must look like that gnarled tree across the lake. When will this stop?” She glanced down in horror as piles of leaves fell at her roots. She gave up and cried every last leaf off her branches. The wind whistled and howled as if attacking her—its teeth tearing her apart, ripping branches off her limbs. Could she survive anymore of this?
The storm continued throughout the night until finally calming to a gentle breeze in the morning. The tree didn’t want to look at her reflection, but had to know. A skeleton of a tree stared back at her. “I’m hideous! I must be dying.” For the first time, she noticed her neighbors had suffered too. Almost every tree at the lake’s edge was bare. She waved her spindly branch at the next tree. The skinny tree waved back.
The sad tree went to sleep for the rest of the winter, expecting to be chopped into firewood. Some days she could hardly sleep in the bitter cold. Some days, snow weighed down her branches. It was a long season, but slowly the air warmed up and the snow melted. Birds sang, passing her by.
She didn’t look at her reflection, but looked at the skinny tree who seemed to be dancing, almost jumping if she wasn’t rooted to the earth. “Look at your limbs!” she called.
The tree looked at her empty branches and saw nothing.
The other tree called, “Don’t you see?”
She looked at her branches again. Was that a baby leaf? The closer she looked, more green appeared. “I’m growing leaves!” She swayed her bony branches.
After a few months passed, the tree was full again—not quite as thick and green as she used to be, but alive and healthy. A squirrel sat on her root and munched an acorn. It looked up, but didn’t climb…until the tree waved and nodded. Her leaves shook with laughter as the squirrel’s little feet tickled her bark. A robin flew back and forth, carrying twigs and twine. Soon she finished building her nest.
When the tree thought to glance at her reflection, she was pleased. “I am a home.”
“I am the tree…
My leaves are for dancing,
To sway in the breeze;
A home for birds singing,
And squirrels and bees.
I am the tree.
Come laugh with me.”
The opinions expressed by authors may not necessarily reflect the opinion of FaithWriters.com.
Accept Jesus as Your Lord and Savior Right Now - CLICK HERE
JOIN US at FaithWriters for Free. Grow as a Writer and Spread the Gospel.
God bless~
God bless~