The Christmas tree in our garden has a story beginning from 1997. This tree was in a pot, when it was given to us at Christmas time in 1997 when colleagues at Developmental Paediatrics Unit at CMC Vellore visited us at home. I remember the resident in the Unit Dr Mathula Thangaraj, who chose this gift for us, wishing us that our time at CMC Vellore be a flourishing experience, as it was only a few months since we relocated from Chennai.
The tree grew in a pot till 2012. When we began living in our cottage, we planted it in our front garden, which grew into a sixty feet tall tree leaning on to the cottage. This made it necessary to prune the tree to reduce its height.
For the last three years there were only sprouts in the pruned stem. During the recent months, two shoots grew parallel to each other to continue its upward growth, which is what is in the second photo taken today.
The tree was hurt by pruning and took a while to recover from the arrest of its award growth.
The touching aspect of this experience is that there are two shoots growing up now, from the earlier one stem !
The tree with one stem below shall now grow up with two stems above!
There is growth beyond any hurt and grief !
That is what this tree stands to announce to us in our garden!
I pause and reflect over this. A hurt can stunt the growth for a short time! But new life takes over to continue with even more vigour!
I had memories of some hurts returning to me, while pondering on this theme of life ! The latter seasons after hurtful experiences became doors of opportunities to live with a new consciousness of acceptance and gratitude!
The twin shoots of stem growing vigorously from where it was hurt, is a wake up call, to process hurts patiently and wait for the good hidden which shall become manifest!
Life is a journey of discoveries, healing and new growth experiences!
M.C.Mathew (text and photo)
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