Lately I have been noticing things that are vertical. I really don't know why, but the vertical lines in nature have stood out to me. Maybe it is because in winter, without the cover of leaves, the verticalness of trees is easier to see.
I found "vertical" in this grass used for erosion control on the Creech Lake Dam, at Montgomery Bell State Park.
Perhaps my attention to vertical is metaphorical of my desire to look above my daily routine. Perhaps it is based upon my inner desire to grow beyond what I am, and to reach what some might say are unattainable dreams. Upward is the direction my heart desires. It's desire is to be out of the mundane world of the day to day.
Of course, we are shaped by the day to day. Our dreams are not always where we end up. Sometimes, we are bent and broken by circumstance. Our dreams are altered by the influence of those about us and the traumas of life.
At any point in time, we may find that we feel more like this bent and broken tree that I found last weekend. Bent by adversity, and broken by forces beyond its control, we, like it, appear to be anything but what we dreamed that we would be. But unlike the tree, we, as long as their is life in us, can continue to dream. We can continue to look to rise above what we are. We can work to become that of which we now can only dream. So, look up from where you are, whatever your state, and dream. Reach for the heavens. Who knows what heights you will attain if you will but dream.
