Writing Sample: Non Fiction

Let the Sunshine In
By Betty Arrigotti

The homes in our neighborhood are all about the same age. When one neighbor replaces a roof, the rest of us raise an eyebrow at our own. When one water line is unearthed, we know it won’t be long before we are digging, too.

Our yards were landscaped alike, saplings planted close to the houses and each other to fill in the emptiness. Now all around us mature trees are being removed. I cringe whenever I hear the sound of a chipper, for I know one of the grand old sentinels is dying so that sunshine can reach hidden corners. I sigh as the trees disappear, one by one, but I know the purge is necessary. Their size stifles other plants. Danger looms as their limbs weaken with age and roots raise sidewalks. They must go.

I wonder if our spiritual lives reach times like this. Are there old ideas and ways of thinking that must be rooted out to make room for new growth? Are there concepts taught in a simplified way to us as children that must be re-examined in order to gain adult insights? Perhaps intolerance must be chipped away in order to see all people as beloved by God.

Or might the overgrown trees in our lives be the cluttered schedules we hurry through, that keep us from the sunlight of grace and inspiration? Copyright 2005 ©