I recently came upon this tree on one of my walks and it stopped me in my tracks. I stood there and really looked at it. It was incredible there was a face on this trunk. Can you see it? I wondered how many other people had recognized a face on this tree on this busy walk path.
This tree and its face reminded me of a movie with Liam Neeson called A Monster Calls. A story of a young boy whose mother is dying of cancer and he imagines a huge oak tree behind his house suddenly come to life. The voice of the tree is Liam Neeson, and this tree not only befriends the boy but gives him inner strength through words of wisdom that helps him get through the pain of losing his mother. The tree in the movie has some wonderful insights, here are some for you to think about:
"There is not always a good guy. Nor is there always a bad one. Most people are somewhere in between.”
“Your mind will believe comforting lies while also knowing the painful truths that make those lies necessary. And your mind will punish you for believing both.”
“Don't think you haven't lived long enough to have a story to tell.”
“You were merely wishing for the end of pain, the monster said. Your own pain.
An end to how it isolated you. It is the most human wish of all.”
“If you speak the truth, the monster whispered in his ear, you will be able to face whatever comes.”
“But what is a dream, Conor O'Malley? the monster said, bending down so it's face was close to Conor's. Who is to say that it is not everything else that is the dream?”
“You know that your truth, the one that you hide… is the thing you are most afraid of.”
“The answer is that it does not matter what you think, the monster said, because
your mind will contradict itself a hundred times each day.”
"You're as old as the land and you've never heard of sarcasm? Conor asked.
Oh, I have heard of it, the monster said, putting its huge branch hands on its hips.
But people usually know better than to speak it to me."
