Over the course of several days, I worked in my yard to get rid of a hedge row. With a front loader on a tractor, chain saw, pick ax, shovels, and a hatchet, I managed to delete the unmanageable bushes from the landscape. After hours of cutting and pulling, what is left is an apocalyptic looking area about 100’ long and 15’ wide. There are still a lot of dead roots sticking up and a few craters left by yanking out stumps.
After several days of rain, a few sunny days, and then more rain, I ventured out to see what steps are necessary to restore the area for sod and new, more manageable evergreens. This part of the yard, right beside the driveway, looks pretty bad right now. But as I surveyed the area, I saw something a bit strange—a small, actually tiny, conifer peeking up through the ravaged dirt.
Having no idea how the little pine got there, I decided to rescue it. I’ve always wanted to start a Japanese style bonsai from scratch and this is a close as I’ll ever get. I dug around the little root stem, very careful not to break it. Now, it is planted in a small black container with fertilizer. I’m optimistic it will live.
Why did I do it? Life. . .even though it is tiny and I’m not quite sure how to support it, it is alive and I’m going to do my best to help it mature into a mighty tree, albeit one I try to shape into what I want it to be.
This brings to mind the whole process of human babies coming into the world. As small as they are, and as much as they cannot fend for themselves, every one of them deserves the opportunity to live. It doesn’t matter how they came to be. . .they have life, and their life should be honored, not ended.
Just like my little tree, babies have to be nourished and their lives shaped by those who bring them into the world and raise them as sons and daughters. We must be careful to educate them, first at home and then in whatever schools in which we enroll them. We must teach them how to respect the lives of others, the importance of family and community. And most of all, we must tell them about God in Jesus Christ.
The twig may become a tree, but sooner or later it will grow old, begin to decay, and it will die. Likewise, every human who lives faces death sooner or later. As I grow older and all the aches and pains of the aged creep upon me, I realize my responsibility to share what I know with younger generations. God has been good to me, way better than I have been in return. One thing I know for sure—Jesus Christ came into this world to provide an abundant life for all who trust him. And he came to offer a place to live for me and all who know him when we die.
My little pine is just a twig today; what it will become only God knows for sure. What I have become is a man who trusts the Lord Jesus Christ without reservation. I’m looking forward to heaven and living forever in the presence of a loving God.
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