Up in the olive tree. 

It’s olive-picking season in our backyard. We have one olive tree. When we moved in to this house in 1994, someone told us the tree was sick and we should cut it down. We cut the trunk down and left the stump and voila! Out of the stump grew new beautiful branches. The olive tree had a will to live and grew again, even more beautiful and hardy than last time.

What’s the lesson? Sometimes we have to get rid of the unnecessary baggage that we’re schlepping around inside us to promote new growth.

Olive trees can live thousands of years…so it’s never too late for us! We sometimes have to stop and take stock and raise our level of awareness. Accepting a situation as it is does not mean that we approve of it, just that we accept it is what it is. Then we can decide what to do about it. We can change, try something new, experiment, step out of our comfort zone, take a risk, take a chance, make that move, change our minds, end something that isn’t working, start another, begin again and again and again and always hold onto hope. 

I tried to find a good quote about olive trees and could not so I better make one up. I am open to suggestions. What is yours? Here is mine: Be like an olive tree: plant yourself with strong roots, let your branches sway in the wind, and give of yourself generously.

Here is my acronym for hope: Hang Onto Prayers Everybody. Especially now in the Middle East when things look so grim…We have to keep praying up. The miracle is always just around the corner.