Seeing the Trees

729 Shades of Green
This week was a challenging one for me. I was extra-busy at work, with several projects demanding my attention. At home, we hosted a small birthday party and barbeque on Monday evening, attended a special monthly worship service at our church on Wednesday evening, and on Thursday we welcomed dear friends who live in South Dakota to our home for dinner.

Whew!

I was especially thankful to see Friday arrive after such a challenging week. I still had many important tasks to wrap up at work and I could feel tension building as I enjoyed my morning time and prepared for the day ahead. I took my coffee out to our deck, which overlooks our hillside lot. I enjoyed my coffee, listening as our canyon “woke up” for the day. I heard roosters crowing, birds singing, dogs waking and beginning to bark.

As I listened to the birds, I began to really look at the trees in our neighborhood. Live oak, pine, several kinds of eucalyptus, sycamore, California pepper…..the variety is astounding.

What I saw for the first time yesterday morning was how each species of tree has its own palette of green. I had long since noticed that the leaves of the eucalyptus were gray-green, the leaves of the oak were deep green, and the leaves of the sycamore were bright green–but this morning I began to see the seemingly endless variety of greens on any one of the majestic trees in our neighborhood.

I sat there, enjoying my coffee and admiring the beauty spread before me. I realized that as I contemplated His creation, all the tension that had been building was gone! The simple act of appreciation had brought peace back to my heart.

11″You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and
power, for You created all things, and by Your will they were
created and have their being.”
Revelation 4:11 (NIV)