This is Deputy Digby Pancake.  Persons are always ordering me around.  Walk this way. Walk that way.  Walk the line.  Don’t walk over that line.

Lines, lines, lines.  Lines and me don’t mix.  And I rarely get angry.  But when persons are trying to hold me back, I can go that way.  Outside the line.  I cross it.

But as we were hiking this morning, Girl Person told me and Brickle to take notice of the lines.  All of the lines on the trees in the swamp and by the lake.

She said that if you looked real close, but not too close so that you didn’t get to rub an elbow with an alligator, you would see it.  Do alligators have elbows?

But as we were looking close…from far away…which made no sense…she pointed out the lines on the trees.  She told us that those were water lines.  That the water at one time had been that high.  I looked closely.  From far away again.  And I wondered.  Were all lines meant to be crossed?  Are all lines bad? Sure, persons definitely don’t want them on their faces.  But maybe, just maybe, lines are a good thing to have.

 You see, lines show life. Character. Lines show you have been thru something dramatic and that you survived. Lines show that you have been around long enough to grow. Like my belly.

Some may just walk by these trees and not see their lines.

But what a waste that is. Because they are beautiful. Although all of the trees have lines, they are different colors. Some are dark. Some are light. Some are surrounded by water. Some are on the shore.

It’s easier to just walk or go thru the day and not see a big picture. It’s easy to group all people together. But even though each tree here has lines, they have their own roots and reasons to keep growing. Just like people, they are individually joined though by experiences, although different. They can grow together. Why can’t people be the same?

Nature has a way of reminding us that we are each beautiful and have a place in our world. Brickle says there are no lines in nature. Only areas of color, one against another. And together, it forms a perfect painting of acceptance, love and beauty.

-Deputy Digby Pancake