Mystery of the Disappearing Trees

Little bear is very impressed with the different varieties of trees on his walks! Mind you, they aren't the same as the Christmas tree that squished him. These trees are pretty much bare of foliage. They are easy to climb too. But there are several places where there are no trees... or rather, the trees are gone. All that remains of the trees is stumps.

Little bear wonders who has taken the trees away. Judging by the stumps, there are two ways in which the trees have disappeared. One set look like they have been nibbled off... and they are pretty small stumps. The other trees are very large... and they look like they've been cut off... like the bottom of the Christmas tree.

Why would anyone or anything cut down such lovely trees? Little bear actually likes the trees. He can hide behind them, climb them... and if they were big enough, even crawl into them and hide. Little bear doesn't quite understand that there is a cycle to life. That big tree might have been old and rotten and snapped off in a windstorm and then been trimmed to a stump. Those little trees feed the beavers (high above the reservoir?) and new trees will eventually take their place.

There is a cycle to life - things come and things go. Our breath comes and goes. The day comes and goes. Life comes and goes. We can get stuck if we try to hang onto something when it is time for it to go. If we try to hang onto our inhaled breath and not let it go... that won't work very well. We can try to hang onto friendships, but sometimes it's time for them to end. People come into our life and people also leave our life. As with the trees, new ones will soon come and fill the hole that is left in our lives.

It is good for us to remember this lesson of little bear... whatever comes will also go... sometimes sooner, sometimes later... but always. Don't hang onto anything but enjoy it in the moment, and be open for new things just one the horizon!