Fungus Patch in Your Own Heart

The other day I was sitting in the grass and thinking about how wonderful an apple tree is. I don't ever think about how the apple tree would be a little better if it were more like the walnut tree or a redwood tree. It is itself in a most wonderful way. One of my favorite apple trees here at Pudding Creek is a particularly big and old tree. The trunk is patterned with insect holes and it has a shelf fungus growing off of it in 2 spots. It also has a funny patch of hard white stuff and a blackberry vine growing out of it. Life marks all of us and we become like this old apple tree - very much ourself and beautiful in our idiosyncrasies. Sometimes when things become overwhelming or uncertain, the only way forward is to love yourself even if (especially if) you have found a fungus patch in your own heart.