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 your unravelling day are a few moments which you can
choose how to use. They are easily spent, so very easily squandered on a
senseless rerun of a mediocre TV show or surfing the net or any one of a
thousand other 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 helping a child. Pursuits like sharing the good news. 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 will plant tomatoes. The rewards are present and
plentiful and personal. Plant trees instead. The results are priceless.
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