Emily Dickinson said, “Beauty is not Caused. It Just is.”
One of the most heartbreakingly beautiful sights I have seen in a long while was a lightning blasted apple tree. Though half of her body was gone to age, or to disease, the remaining trunk stood tall and held the limbs that sprang from her side. The half that was gone provided a stump to lean back on when we visited. Where the lightning had stung the bark was scared black but shone in the sun as if it was polished. In the spring brave blossoms would appear on her remaining limbs. In the summer leaves provided shade while the blossoms filled out to become sweet apples. In the fall her leaves would turn golden while her fruit would ripen. Her winter glamour was her position as a sentinel at the top of hillside. Who knows her story? Was she the last of an orchard? Was she a memorial to someone’s beloved? How can we not see her beauty?
How do you see or observe beauty around you? Do you see the extraordinary you find around you in the commonplace? Do you have an “apple tree” in your life that is beautiful by your standards?
Of Sticks and Stones 