LESSONS FROM AN ASPEN TREE – A PERSONAL STORY
LESSONS FROM AN ASPEN TREE
By Julianne Wallace
I have always loved Aspens. In fact, you could say they are my favorite tree. I love their tall white trunks reaching to the sky and the soothing sound their leaves make as they shimmer in the breeze. I love looking up into a grove of them framed by a bright blue backdrop. Their beauty fills my soul and brings tears to my eyes. One evening while hiking, I was admiring the beautiful Aspens when I noticed one in particular. It had started growing straight and then for some unknown reason its trunk took a detour, a sharp right angle turn and grew horizontal to the ground for a while and then took another right angle turn as if it instinctively knew, hey this isn’t right, I’m headed in the wrong direction.
I wondered what unexpected force caused it to change direction for a time and then I thought about my own life and the lives of those I love. We grow up with a picture in our mind of what our life will look like. We have goals, expectations, and dreams that we hope will create the life we imagine. And then . . . unexpected events pop up and before we know it we are no longer headed in the direction we were anticipating. We find ourselves dealing with an unexpected injury, loss, illness, or heartache that wasn’t part of our plan. We find ourselves headed in another direction, and we are asked to trust in Heavenly Father’s plan for our lives. We plead with Him for guidance so that we might find the faith to allow these experiences to help us become something else, someone else. Something we didn’t anticipate, something greater. It almost seems as though this mortal experience is designed to throw us off our game. There is a quote by Hank Smith that I love. He said, “You know that picture in your head of how your life is ‘supposed’ to be? Yeah, you gotta get rid of that.” The point though is to not get derailed from our greater purpose, the reason we are here in the first place. Aspens are programmed, created to grow tall and straight and they will do everything in their power to fulfill that measure of their creation.
With new eyes, I found other Aspens trying and succeeding in doing just that. This guy had a tough time making up his mind as if he didn’t know where he was headed, but seemed to have eventually found his way despite getting wrapped around an evergreen.
This old gal really had a difficult start but she hung in there, straightened out and found her footing. Don’t give up, keep striving. Our scars make us who we are, they create compassion, empathy, strength and humility. They teach us lessons we didn’t know we wanted. I wonder if this tree feels self-conscious, ashamed or embarrassed as she looks at the other trees around her with their long, straight trunks. Because let’s face it, it’s hard when you’re struggling and everyone around you looks like they’ve got it all handled, growing all straight and tall and skinny.
However, if you look closely, every tree has scars and imperfections, every single one. So regardless of our detours, our difficult beginnings, middles or endings, know that our Heavenly Father is keenly aware of each one of us, knows us by name and then — believe that there is great purpose in our struggles. As Reyna I. Aburto said in her October 2019 General Conference address for The Church Of Jesus Christ Of Latter Day Saints, “Your struggles do not define you, but they can refine you.” We should be proud of how far we’ve come or should I say what we’ve overcome and encourage and lift one another as we continue on down this road of life.
Something else I love about Aspens is that they are all connected by an underground root system that send up new trunks as older trees die off and these colonies can live for thousands of years. The oldest living colony happens to be in Utah, nicknamed “Pando” and is estimated to be over 80,000 years old.
I love that a grove of Aspen trees are all connected and share the same root system. Talk about a Family Tree! The similarities to our own eternal families and support systems both here on earth and beyond the veil are so beautiful. We are all connected. I’m so grateful I’m not alone on this journey, I’m so grateful for fellow travelers. Because when you think about it, “we really are all just walking each other home.” (Unknown) And that first picture of the crooked Aspen, I keep it on my phone as my home screen photo to remind me that it is because of the detours and unexpected lessons I encounter that I am becoming who I am meant to be.
Julianne Wallace
Member: Council For Sustainable Healing
