Kim Kelleher talked about branch points in our lives during her lecture at church yesterday. I had never heard that term before. I have heard the fork in the road analogy, even paths in the forest. Never “branch point”.
I like this analogy when it comes to the living of our lives. For me a branch is part of the tree, even when it splits into two different segments. It is not lost, and one can usually see well enough on a tree where exactly that point of separation occurred.
Trees are a good symbol for me in other ways. The tree of life story has always resonated with me. The tree grows and grows and grows. It grows within the earth through its root system and it grows to the heavens through its branches. The more the tree is willing to experience and anchor itself in its roots, the higher and more full its branches become as they travel towards heaven.
When a branch grows, it is not separated from the tree.The branch is nourished and encouraged on the new direction it has taken. The way in which the branch grows is not judged by the tree, it is nourished just the same as it would have been if it had not separated from the original pathway in which is was growing. It doesn’t’ mean that it will not develop a kink here or there or have a bird place too much weight on the end snapping it off so that it will have to restart the growing process.
In looking back at my own branch I can see lots of starts and stops. I can see places in which my main branch allowed one choice to grow and prosper and allowing others to just sit and not grow any further than the initial bud. There are larger sections and much thinner ones. There are sections in which I added greenery and in some cases flora and others that have the bark peeling a bit from the weather endured. I have allowed pruning and even readjustment to the was in which the branch grows towards the Light. There are some places in which foliage from other branches intermingle with mine creating beautiful colors and shade for the animals that make the tree their home. There are some branches that it is impossible to communicate just because of the nature of placement on the tree and others that make an effort to bend around and away from my branch. I see a place or two…or three that my branch has done the same.
Looking at the tree, however, it is easy to see how all the branches, all the flora, all the foliage, all the animals that rest there ALL receive their love and nourishment from the main trunk of that tree. The tree that is willing to place roots into the ground and encourage those roots to go deep in order to support the weight of the branches need to grow in the Light. One tree not making judgement on the way in which the branches are growing, at what speed, or at even at what rate they produce flowers and seeds to start a new tree and a new set of branches, a new set of stories, outlooks and visions. It doesn’t tell the animals which branches are better to sit on, eat from or make homes with. It nourishes them all, equally. It is up to the branches how much of that nourishment it allows. It is also up to the branches how much light they would like. Branches can grumble other branches are blocking the light, grumble that one is showing off with too many flowers or make mention that one really needs more foliage, that it isn’t working hard enough…but it is really up to each individual branch to decide if and when it will grow, it is not up to the others. Even though all branches are from the same source each is responsible for its own ‘branch points’.
