Nature's Sentinels

It occurred to me the other day that I spend a lot of the year anxious for leaves to appear on the trees and bemoaning the falling of the leaves - but rarely do I stop and say Wow look at all of those trees in full leaf.

So I've been making a point of studying the trees an appreciating the depth they add to the landscape.  In fact one of the first thoughts that came to mind as I looked out across acres of forest was that area looks so three dimensional.

Yeah, I know - DUH!

But as I studied the way older trees towered over younger growth and the stout trees filled in the gaps between their narrower brethren, the layers of all that growth challenged my eyes to stay in focus. I found myself looking right past the nearest trees, searching out the distant giants that grew five feet taller followed by others five feet taller yet, until the difference narrowed to inches (at least from my perspective).

It gradually registered on my sometimes slow moving brain that those older trees were miles away and that the front lines I normally noticed took up only the smallest piece of the land that I whiz past every day.

And it occurs to me that beyond stopping to smell the roses I need to spend more time walking beneath nature's sentinels.