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When I was a little boy, just about 10 or 11, we visited my
great-aunt and great-uncle. In the yard beside their home stood
a towering pecan tree. Every summer pecans would fall off the
tree and sprout, producing a mini-forest of several dozen small
saplings. On the last day of our visit that summer, we carefully
dug up one of the tiny trees, placed it gently in the trunk of
our car, and took it home. We planted it in the corner of our
yard. And we waited.
I remember counting up the number of years that would pass
before the tree produced any pecans, and realizing that if all
went well, it just might make the first crop the summer before
I left for college. It seemed like an eternity.
The years passed, and the tree quickly outgrew me. Seasons
came and went, and the tree kept growing. I left for college,
and the tree was just beginning to produce. Today, it stands
tall, shading much of the yard. It will continue to grow and
provide shade and beauty for decades, probably long after I am
gone.
We planted many different things in the hard, unforgiving
West Texas soil. The flowers we planted bloomed quickly, but
fall brought their beauty to an end. The tomatoes and peppers
we planted were good to eat, but the garden spot is long since
covered by a storage shed. We planted those things for ourselves,
but in a sense, we planted the tree for someone else. Because
even though we get to enjoy its shade now, it is still just a
baby, and will be growing and reaching skyward for years and
years to come.
The temptation is to plant tomatoes, because we soon can eat
the fruit of our labor. The temptation is to plant flowers, because
we soon can smell their sweet aroma. But the true challenge in
life is to plant trees, and not just any trees, but big, slow-growing,
long-living trees, because it is those trees which benefit countless
multitudes.
Each day, you choose how you will invest yourself. Your hours
are spent on many pressing things which must be done today, immediately,
RIGHT NOW, without delay. Your days feel full to overflowing.
But look....carefully.... cautiously.....at the frayed edges
of each unraveling day are a few moments which you can choose
how to use. They are easily spent, so very easily squandered
on a fruitless desires or painless pastimes. These moments must
be gathered up, treasured for the treasure they are, and carefully
applied to the pursuits which will make a lasting difference
a year from now....or a decade...or a century.
Pursuits like creating a future which most dare not even imagine
for fear it will intrude on their comfortable present.
Many will plant flowers. Some tomatoes. The rewards are present
and plentiful and personal.
Plant trees instead. The results can be far-reaching and eternal.
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