The pieces of this cut-down willow tree have been sitting on the sidewalk in my neighborhood for over a month. With the rainy June, the pieces have evidently decided it’s time to reestablish themselves, breeding new life from what seemed like dead stumps.

It’s a bittersweet sight, and yet the ferocity with which living things cling to life is inspiring. This is the nature of joy (and the joy of nature), to rise green and exuberant from the wreckage, renewing that which we thought was demolished.

When Bernanke talks about “green shoots” in our economy, I think of this tree, and it makes me smile.