Looking at these two images you might wonder what they are. I use them to help me meditate. Both items began as wood. They grew upward and outwards. They were impacted by the sun, wind, rain, and heat. both of them grew quite large. Then some force acted upon them. They were cut down, or knocked down.
The one on the left was tossed into the ocean. It received tremendous pressure as the water pushed it down, down, down. Water began to seep inside changing the trees texture. The pressure was so tremendous that the strong, healthy, tree began to break apart into pieces. Eventually this small part of a tree was washed to shore.
The piece of wood on the right was also interrupted in its growth. It may have been knocked down by a tremendous storm. Regardless of the method that caused it to fracture, it broke apart into many, many pieces. Earth settled down over it. Years, and years, and years went by. The wood went further and further and further down under earth. The deeper the earth upon it became, the more pressure that the wood experienced. The pressure became so intense that what was once a live tree, wood, now became stone.
Now you recognize that the left piece of wood is driftwood. I found it on a beach in Oregon. The right piece of wood is petrified. It was located in southern Utah. It's interesting to me that although they came from very different locations the color of the wood is almost identical.
The consistency of the wood is incredibly different. The driftwood can be be broken into pieces with just the brush of a finger. The petrified wood has become even stronger than it's origins. It is stone. You could not break it apart.
Both began the same way. Both were similar creations. Both faced damage, destruction, and pressure. What happened to the driftwood? It floated about with each thing that acted upon it. As the water filled it, it became porous, soft, unusable for its original purpose.
The petrified wood is strong, resilient. The intense pressure that it faced made it stronger, firmer. If I throw it to the ground nothing happens to it.
If I throw the driftwood to the ground it would shatter into many, many tiny pieces.
Which are we, the driftwood, or the petrified wood? We all face pressure, difficulty, struggle. Do we use the challenge to become better? Or over the years of life do we allow things to weaken us, make us unable to fulfill our original function?
If you have found yourself drifting through life, allowing all things to act upon you, instead of being a force that is becoming stronger, it is never too late for change. Growth is often less than pleasant. I'm certain that the tree that was under the soil for so many years felt the pain of pressure and change. Yet it emerged even better than it began.
What are you today...now...driftwood? Or petrified rock?
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