Tending the garden of the heart - Day 75 On further observation of the broken branch of the apple tree, it may have been the weight of the fruit that broke it and not the lightening, as we initially thought. When it was being picked up it took 5 people - the kids plus Dad - to lift it up and lean it against the apple tree. We left the young apples on the branch for a couple of days and had to pick them all off because the leaves began to wither and some of the apples were shrivelling. My 7 year old could now lift up the branch by herself. Nature provides very simple yet profound ways of showing us the spiritual side of life and how it affects us more than we realize at times. There's a whole other realm and it is the heart and soul of our lives. When we're disconnected from it we are disconnected from our life Source. The leaves, as well as the fruit, of the broken branch began to shrivel because it was disconnected from its life source. All that it needed for its sustenance was in the main tree and because it was no longer attached, the death process began to show outwardly. In the absence of life, there's separation and death. In the absence of light, there's darkness and in the absence of love, there's fear producing hatred. The effectiveness of the connection to our Source is in the conscious awareness of our Source's existence and our oneness with our Source. In this awareness a relationship is established. As the main tree is in relation to the branch as its source so is the branch as an avenue through which the main tree produces its fruit and reproduces itself. If we see ourselves as connected to God, who is the invisible Main Tree which sustains and energizes our inner being, we would then understand the importance of our conscious awareness of and dependence on this connection. We would also see that we are one with our Main Tree even as we express our uniqueness through which it produces fruit and reproduces itself through our fruit seeds.