Last week after I got some hard news, I wrote the poem, “over.” I was hurting, and I remembered all of the times when I hurt like this–when I had to say goodbyes that I didn’t want to say. When I had to close the door and not turn back. Ever.
It was pointed out to me first by someone I know and admire and have grown to care about (though we’ve never met) that in the poem I shared that I had tossed an acorn into an open grave, and that told him something. Later, another sweet soul pointed it out as well and said she agreed. For me to keep tossing acorns.
Wow.
Keep tossing acorns.
Hope.
I hadn’t looked at it like that.
This afternoon I took a few minutes to wander off by myself. It was a lovely afternoon, just right for a walk. I went down near the edge of the woods in search of a treasure. I wasn’t sure if they would be there or not, but when I got there and they were–I was elated.
It was peaceful there, squatting by myself at the edge of the woods, pushing back the tendrils of grass that didn’t die off in the frost a couple of weeks ago, searching for the gifts from the trees there.
Acorns.
I gently picked up each one. For whatever reason, the caps fell off of many of them, but I tucked each one and its cap in my jar. I needed them, you see. It was as though each one I picked up fed my soul a little bit more. When I rose from the ground, I headed home toting my jar of acorns with a little more peace than I had when I began.
And I give thanks for that.
I look at these little amazing things, and I wonder if anyone ever told them that simply dropping to the ground and waiting in one place would not get them anywhere. I wonder if anyone ever told them about gravity and how something that falls to the ground can never really reach the skies again. I wonder if anyone ever told them that it was all over. Done.
No. Of course not.
And even if someone had, it wouldn’t have made a lick of difference because an acorn defies gravity and proves that sometimes good things can come from sitting still, from waiting. Just simply by being. By the way it lives out its story.
Tonight I’m thankful for the peace that can be found by sitting in a patch of grass at the edge of the woods. And for the hope that can be found in a little acorn.
Wishing you all a healthy dose of hope and peace and a little patch of grass to squat in and find it.
Love to all.
I Might Need A Nap 