As I was taking my morning walk the other day, I came upon this tree.  At one time, this tree was a fine example of a perfectly formed tree.  But, alas time has taken it toll on this old beauty and she had to be severely trimmed.  But I was struck by her tenacious attitude toward life.  As you can see, if she couldn’t grow any longer in her former direction, she just changed directions.

This reminded me of the story of John Woolman who was a contemporary of our own Elizabeth Haddon.  John Woolman believed that owning slaves was inconsistent with being a Quaker.

John traveled on foot and visited every Quaker settlement on the East Coast.  After twenty years of tenaciously clinging to his belief that slaveholding was wrong, the Quaker community arrived at a consensus to free all their slaves.

“Water is fluid, soft and yielding

But water will wear away a rock,

Which is rigid and cannot yield…

What is soft is strong.”  Lao Tzu

I hope you get a chance to tenaciously explore relaxation this weekend.

Bernadette