Live Oaks are one of my favorite trees. They have green leaves year round and only shed their leaves each year as the new green leaf buds push off last years leaves. This usually happens around mid to late March in Texas. Besides being green year round, they individually have beautiful shapes. Their branches reach out in umbrella fashion and provide wonderful shady areas for reading, napping, or chatting with a friend. One of the things that contributes to a Live Oak’s loveliness is pruning. An arborist will tell you that there are three main things to know about the appropriate pruning of a tree. The first is to trim while the tree is dormant, which is in winter. The second is to trim the dead branches and twigs first, and then competing branches. And the third guideline is to trim off the branches growing down toward the ground. When Live Oak trees are pruned in this manner year after year, graceful artistic branches result. Arches are aesthetically pleasing to the eye and the pictures here show the development of those Live Oak arches resulting from regular pruning and the weight of growing time, and a comparison tree that has not been diligently pruned.
So with our lives: The branches grow outward reaching for the life-giving sun, and as the branches get longer each year, the increasing length causes the branch to begin bending. If downward growing branches are trimmed off, the branch gains strength, and grows longer before it begins to bend.
We all have things in our lives that “grow downward”, that are not in our highest interest. If our downward growing branches are pruned away (as well as extraneous “sucker” branches), we, as a Live Oaks, can gain strength and become more graceful. Living artistically is part of becoming whole.
The first picture below show some branches hidden by overgrowth, but also shows one artistically arching branch. This is a possible picture of a life that is cared for in one area but not another.
And then there is the big beautifully shaped oak that has been consciously tended with care for many years. It is expressing its own creative spirit which can be enjoyed by all passers by. The Buddha says, “Do not underestimate good, thinking it will not affect you. Dripping water can fill a pitcher, drop by drop.” (Dhammapada 9.7)
