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Previous Challenge Entry (Level 1 – Beginner)
Topic: Trees (12/05/05)
"The trees are all gone," moaned my mother.

"They came down during the hurricane," replied the driver.

"Are you going to replant them?"

"We haven't really decided. A lot of people have called to say they miss them. We might."

The car slowly made its way around the circular drive that had once been lined with trees. It looked bare now, kind of lonely, I thought. The car stopped, and we waited for the driver to open the doors. I hadn't been here in eleven years. Strange how my mother noticed the absence of the trees.

We watched as doors to the other cars opened and people spilled out onto the neatly cut lawn. Finally the driver opened our doors. I took a deep breath before climbing out. I had not been here since my father's funeral. Now I was back to say goodbye to my grandmother. I didn't pay much attention to what the minister said. My thoughts kept drifting back to my childhood. As I scanned the faces of those around us, my eyes drifted back to the driveway. It really looked strange without the trees. They had made this place look warm and inviting, peaceful even. Now it just looked desolate.

I guess it really doesn't matter that the trees are gone. The beauty of the cemetary was for us, the living. Those who rested there day after day were now in the most beautiful place of all. They no longer worried about something as mundane as a fallen tree. Wouldn't it be great to be like that here on earth? To just revel in God's glory day after day? To not always be so wrapped up in the details of life? Will I ever get to that point I wondered? Or will I continue to be preoccupied with the immaterial?

We went back to my grandmother's house. As I climbed out of the car, I had to smile. There in the trees were my children. They had climbed the very trees I had climbed as a child. Their laughter was so carefree.

"Dear God," I prayed, "let me have the faith that I once had. Let me again trust completely and sincerely. Grant me the peace that comes from allowing you to be in charge. Take my earthly worries and help me put into perspective those things that truly matter. Amen."

As I walked into my grandmother's house, a feeling of peace descended upon me that I had not felt in years. As the tear rolled down my face, I knew that it was not from sorrow. The trees in my life no longer blinded me.
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