7:30 BELLS: Our Snags Make Us Beautiful

The smooth, symmetrical perfectly growing tree doesn’t capture my interest. The twisting snag—like this one on the beach at the Cape George Colony—does. Eagles know this, they so often build their nests in the snags of dead trees. The best trees—and I’ve seen this in exquisite bonsai trees, capture both the stark beauty of the snag and the thriving green branches.

I know that our lives are like this, too. There are parts of our lives that have been but are no more, things left behind—people, places, jobs, dreams—yet they remain part of us. Like the snag on the living bonsai, they show what was,  show the history that has made us who we are. From whatever part of our lives that  is green and thriving now, we can look at our snags and remember. That helps us move forward to what we want to become, how we want to grow.

We should honor our snags. They make us beautiful, make whatever is strong and fierce and wild look to us as home.

                                                   LORE OF THE BELL:

                                                 Our snags make us beautiful