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Every day should be Arbor Day
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I made gardens and parks and planted all kinds of fruit trees in them. -Ecclesiastes 2:5
Today, among other things, is National Arbor Day. It is a day that we take pause and consider the overwhelmingly intrinsic connection between trees and our survival. It is a day that we resolve to plant a tree. It is a day that we make a focused, personal effort to give back a little of what we have taken. And while planting a single tree may not produce a measurable return right away, most are satisfied in the knowledge that, someday, their tree will stand tall; teeming with life.
It was nearly one hundred forty years ago, this month, that the first Arbor Day was observed in Nebraska. Although National Arbor Day is celebrated on the last Friday of April, there are states that celebrate their own version of Arbor Day according to when the climate is best for tree planting. Here, in California, our state Arbor Day is in the month of March. So if you live in California, you get two Arbor Days...nice.
As I was pondering the minutiae of this particular celebration, I came to the realization that we, as believers, can sometimes approach our capacity for spreading the good news in the same way that we regard Arbor Day. That is to say, we plant the seed of eternal life entirely too seldom. Chiefly, we get serious twice a year; Christmas and Easter. I found the thought more than a little convicting. How many opportunities to plant God in the hearts of others have I, personally, let go? How many chances have I squandered to speak hope and encouragement into the lives of others? How many encounters have I purposely avoided that may have had a positive effect on the day of another?
Trees are important; very important. The truth of it is that it takes a great deal of sunlight, water and time to properly grow a tree that bears fruit capable of producing more trees. We must be willing to plant the seed, completely at peace with the possibility that we may not see the tree fully grown.
What if every day was Arbor Day? In the realm of trees and eternal souls, we ought to take more than a periodic glance at the importance of tending to both in our daily lives. Plant a tree. After all, we have a pocket full of good seed that is just waiting to be cast.
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