A tree falls the way it leans

I just finished watching the movie “The Lorax” a really great movie. Maybe it’s the big kid in me, or the fact that I work with children, but I really do like Dr. Seuss. The writing is awesome and the creativity even awesomer! This movie was powerful in the way it showed how we must take care of the trees and our need of them as human beings. What really struck me though was this quote from the movie:

“The Lorax: Which way does a tree fall?
The Once-ler: Uh, down?
The Lorax: A tree falls the way it leans. Be careful which way you lean.”

― Dr. Seuss, The Lorax

…Be careful, which way you lean. Wow! So simple and true. What way am I leaning I thought? There are so many ways in which we find ourselves “leaning:” on people, on things, our feelings, self-reliance, our addictions, our hurts, our fears etc. When we, like a tree, are falling down, what is holding us up? Will it truly hold us when we are being “cut down” by: sickness, relationship turmoil, unemployment, death, pressures etc what are we falling toward?

When I asked myself this “how am I leaning?” I found myself singing an old chorus:

Oh I’m leaning, leaning
Safe and secure from all alarms
Leaning, leaning
Leaning on the everlasting arms

Which way does your tree fall?