Fr Jim Cogley
Trees fall into two main categories, those that are deciduous and the evergreens. The deciduous shed their leaves every year. They are usually deep-rooted and often solitary. In order to survive the harshness and winds of winter they wisely allow their coat of leaves to fall away so that carrying less baggage they don’t get uprooted and blown away. The painful stripping process that allows us to come home to ourselves also brings us to a place of inner strength and the ability to tap into inner resources that we never knew we had. Evergreens on the other hand tend to have surprisingly shallow roots and so need to grow close together in order to survive. They are the co-dependent ones who may be quite tall but beneath are quite shallow. Interestingly in a forest of evergreens no other species exist since their spines create a carpet of poison where nothing else can grow. Co-dependency at the human level is never conducive to growth either. Like two birds tied together, they may have four wings, but will be unable to fly.