Hajja Salesjana January March 2018

7 that they can sway when at the mercy of bad, windy weather. If they were stiff or rigid, if they lacked this flexibility – made even more critical due to their great height – they would easily snap in high winds. Finally, one could say that having a very skimpy canopy is an evolutionary trait acquired to protect the tree during heavy snowfalls. If they were full, with many branches and leaves, they would break under the weight of the snow and put the entire tree in danger. I was awestruck. Explained in this way, the reason for their structure was obvious. My thoughts turned immediately to us. I said to myself: what an incredible metaphor! What a life lesson from nature for us humans! If we can learn how to live according to these three characteristics – roots, flexibility, and lightness – we also may grow tall and straight and have endurance. With deep roots and a great interiority which permit us to find the “freshwater” of serenity, calm, and peace, even in difficult days or times that we really do not like, we will not collapse. If we are able to be flexible in what matters, and versatile when something important is at stake; if we can replace intransigence with dialogue, listening, patience, and closeness born of love – we will not easily break. If we truly seek only what is essential, that is to say, what is authentic, what is absolutely necessary, and what fills us the most, many other things will become totally relative, and we will feel fuller and richer – filled in every sense of the word. It seems to me that this lesson taken from nature comes at a very opportune moment during this year in which we are inviting families to be schools of life and of love . The lesson is also valid for personal relationships, for the bonds within the home, for school and education, and for the accompaniment of children. Indeed, it is most fitting for our love relationships, friendships and our work relationships. In short – it is right wherever we are. I believe I will not easily forget this lesson whenever I contemplate a forest, especially one of tall and straight fir trees. At the same time that I greet you all with cordiality, I invite you to marvel a bit, if you wish, at this beautiful lesson from nature itself. What a beautiful footprint the Creator has left on it. May you be happy!