“How did I get here?”

There are so many who find themselves thinking, “I don’t know if I can be stretched, twisted, or turned much more.” Yet, the truth is that if a person who feels this way can look back 10, 15, 20, 40+ years, they will likely remember saying the same thing back then… The present is the most vivid because it is where we are now. When I worked in home health, I visited a patient who had been bed-bound for quite some time. As we met regularly, I would inquire as to how she was managing all that she was enduring. She would say, without fail, “My momma told me to let life bend ya, but never let it break ya!”

This month, with gratitude I look at the vast forests that surround us. The South is blessed with abundance and our trees seem to grow with ease. These trees provide shade, shelter, support, and protection to the environments around them. They also make up a huge part of our economy and most of the structures outside and inside our homes and offices are made up of pieces and parts of trees.

Gratefully, those trees weathered the storms, environmental changes, bugs, and all manner of challenges to serve in the noble and necessary roles they play. Put yourself in the place of the tree who did not foresee all of its struggles but fought for life anyway!

The following poem, “Good Timber” by Douglas Malloch, illustrates this point perfectly:

 

The tree that never had to fight

For sun and sky and air and light,

But stood out in the open plain

And always got its share of rain,

Never became a forest king

But lived and died a scrubby thing.

The man who never had to toil

To gain and farm his patch of soil,

Who never had to win his share

Of sun and sky and light and air,

Never became a manly man

But lived and died as he began.

Good timber does not grow with ease:

The stronger wind, the stronger trees;

The further sky, the greater length;

The more the storm, the more the strength.

By sun and cold, by rain and snow,

In trees and men good timbers grow.

Where thickest lies the forest growth,

We find the patriarchs of both.

And they hold counsel with the stars

Whose broken branches show the scars

Of many winds and much of strife.

This is the common law of life.

You were given this life because YOU were strong enough to live it. You matter and are here for a reason. We can learn from you.

Let Senior Care help you or a loved one. Call 601-703-4917 for more information. We may have resources to help and we have a location nearby to serve you.

Spencer Blalock, DHA, LCSW, BCD, is a clinical specialist with Senior Care – a service of Rush Health Systems.