I recently came across the following exchange of letters between a father and his son…
Dear Son,
Your mother and I love you very much, and we miss you dearly ever since you went to prison. I especially miss you now that spring is here, and it is time to plow the fields. The ground is hard, and my back is old. I am afraid I will never be able to plant the crops in time.
Your Loving Father
_________________________
Dear Dad,
Do not dig in the field. That is where I hide that thing. You know I cannot say what it is because they read our mail. Just do not dig out there.
Your Son
_________________________
Dear Son,
The cops came out and dug up my fields. They said they were looking for something. Thanks, son. It looks like I will get the crops planted.
Your Loving and Grateful Father
These days, thankfully, my wife and I do not have any fields to plant. But as a child growing up on a farm, I knew this spring routine well. The ground had to be broken up before row after row was laid off and seeds were planted in the freshly tilled soil. This was done on a smaller scale for the garden and on a much larger one for the corn and other crops grown as food for our animals.
While I have not technically farmed in decades, I can still remember how I dreaded the annual process. But not this year. In fact, I have been looking forward to this particular spring precisely because I desire to do some planting.
You see, I have fond memories of the numerous fruit trees that populated the yards of my parents and grandparents. These included varieties of apples, figs pears, plums, pomegranates, quinces, and the like, as well as arbors full of muscadines, scuppernongs, and other such grape vines.
Few pleasures were as blissful to me as eating myself nearly into a stupor when the branches of each bore their fruit in season. I even remember the occasional belly ache from too many apples with affection. After all, such episodes are arguably a rite of passage for all children a part of their growing up.
What is more, now that the Lord has given my wife and me seven precious grandsons, I intend to provide just such opportunities for each of them. I have ordered and intend to plant fifteen fruit trees and two arbors of grapes.
The trees I have in mind should not take that many years to mature. I trust that I will live to enjoy their produce right along beside of my grandsons for years to come. Of course, that is all in the Lord’s hands. Nor do I know how long the trees themselves, once planted, will live and produce. Who knows? If the Lord tarries His return, maybe they will be around for my great-grandsons and even their children to enjoy.
The poet, Henry Cuyler Bunner, understood this well; as his famed poem, “The Heart of the Tree”, attests:
What does he plant who plants a tree?
He plants a friend of sun and sky;
He plants the flag of breezes free;
The shaft of beauty, towering high;
He plants a home to heaven anigh;
For song and mother-croon of bird
In hushed and happy twilight heard--
The treble of heaven's harmony--
These things he plants who plants a tree.
What does he plant who plants a tree?
He plants cool shade and tender rain,
And seed and bud of days to be,
And years that fade and flush again;
He plants the glory of the plain;
He plants the forest's heritage;
The harvest of a coming age;
The joy that unborn eyes shall see--
These things he plants who plants a tree.
In like manner, I hope my own efforts this spring will lead to joy for future eyes to see. And for future palates to taste!
One additional thought has often come to mind as I have envisioned the planting and nurture of these trees. I have plans to place them in a flat part of our yard not far from the banks of a creek that flows through our property. They should do well in this site, receiving ample portions of both sunshine and moisture necessary to secure their growth and productivity.
Many times as I have envisioned them flourishing there, I have been reminded of the words of the first three verse of the Old Testament book of Psalms (chapter 1, verses 1-3):
1Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, or set foot on the path of sinners, or sit in the seat of mockers. 2But his delight is in the Law of the LORD, and on His law he meditates day and night. 3He is like a tree planted by streams of water, yielding its fruit in season, whose leaf does not wither, and who prospers in all he does.
In the days and years to come, as the Lord gives me opportunity, I pray I can do as much if not more to nurture the souls of my children and grandchildren as I can to nurture the fruit trees from which they devise enjoyment.
Given that their souls have immeasurably greater value then their bodies, such an endeavor will surely be far more beneficial for them. And I can only hope that the day will come when they themselves will come to understand and appreciate that very truth. If it does, I will have succeeded in giving them not only simple pleasures which they will fondly remember form their past, but also a solid foundation for living out their lives along with a reassuring anticipation of a secure and blessed future!
JOKE SOURCE: https://upjoke.com/spring-jokes.
POEM SOURCE: https://poets.org/poem/heart-tree.
The third verse reads as follows:
What does he plant who plants a tree? He plants, in sap and leaf and wood,
In love of home and loyalty And far-cast thought of civic good— His blessings on the neighborhood,
Who in the hollow of His hand
Holds all the growth of all our land--
A nation's growth from sea to sea
Stirs in his heart who plants a tree.
SCRIPTURE SOURCE: https://biblehub.com/bsb/psalms/1.htm.
Dear Son,
Your mother and I love you very much, and we miss you dearly ever since you went to prison. I especially miss you now that spring is here, and it is time to plow the fields. The ground is hard, and my back is old. I am afraid I will never be able to plant the crops in time.
Your Loving Father
_________________________
Dear Dad,
Do not dig in the field. That is where I hide that thing. You know I cannot say what it is because they read our mail. Just do not dig out there.
Your Son
_________________________
Dear Son,
The cops came out and dug up my fields. They said they were looking for something. Thanks, son. It looks like I will get the crops planted.
Your Loving and Grateful Father
These days, thankfully, my wife and I do not have any fields to plant. But as a child growing up on a farm, I knew this spring routine well. The ground had to be broken up before row after row was laid off and seeds were planted in the freshly tilled soil. This was done on a smaller scale for the garden and on a much larger one for the corn and other crops grown as food for our animals.
While I have not technically farmed in decades, I can still remember how I dreaded the annual process. But not this year. In fact, I have been looking forward to this particular spring precisely because I desire to do some planting.
You see, I have fond memories of the numerous fruit trees that populated the yards of my parents and grandparents. These included varieties of apples, figs pears, plums, pomegranates, quinces, and the like, as well as arbors full of muscadines, scuppernongs, and other such grape vines.
Few pleasures were as blissful to me as eating myself nearly into a stupor when the branches of each bore their fruit in season. I even remember the occasional belly ache from too many apples with affection. After all, such episodes are arguably a rite of passage for all children a part of their growing up.
What is more, now that the Lord has given my wife and me seven precious grandsons, I intend to provide just such opportunities for each of them. I have ordered and intend to plant fifteen fruit trees and two arbors of grapes.
The trees I have in mind should not take that many years to mature. I trust that I will live to enjoy their produce right along beside of my grandsons for years to come. Of course, that is all in the Lord’s hands. Nor do I know how long the trees themselves, once planted, will live and produce. Who knows? If the Lord tarries His return, maybe they will be around for my great-grandsons and even their children to enjoy.
The poet, Henry Cuyler Bunner, understood this well; as his famed poem, “The Heart of the Tree”, attests:
What does he plant who plants a tree?
He plants a friend of sun and sky;
He plants the flag of breezes free;
The shaft of beauty, towering high;
He plants a home to heaven anigh;
For song and mother-croon of bird
In hushed and happy twilight heard--
The treble of heaven's harmony--
These things he plants who plants a tree.
What does he plant who plants a tree?
He plants cool shade and tender rain,
And seed and bud of days to be,
And years that fade and flush again;
He plants the glory of the plain;
He plants the forest's heritage;
The harvest of a coming age;
The joy that unborn eyes shall see--
These things he plants who plants a tree.
In like manner, I hope my own efforts this spring will lead to joy for future eyes to see. And for future palates to taste!
One additional thought has often come to mind as I have envisioned the planting and nurture of these trees. I have plans to place them in a flat part of our yard not far from the banks of a creek that flows through our property. They should do well in this site, receiving ample portions of both sunshine and moisture necessary to secure their growth and productivity.
Many times as I have envisioned them flourishing there, I have been reminded of the words of the first three verse of the Old Testament book of Psalms (chapter 1, verses 1-3):
1Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, or set foot on the path of sinners, or sit in the seat of mockers. 2But his delight is in the Law of the LORD, and on His law he meditates day and night. 3He is like a tree planted by streams of water, yielding its fruit in season, whose leaf does not wither, and who prospers in all he does.
In the days and years to come, as the Lord gives me opportunity, I pray I can do as much if not more to nurture the souls of my children and grandchildren as I can to nurture the fruit trees from which they devise enjoyment.
Given that their souls have immeasurably greater value then their bodies, such an endeavor will surely be far more beneficial for them. And I can only hope that the day will come when they themselves will come to understand and appreciate that very truth. If it does, I will have succeeded in giving them not only simple pleasures which they will fondly remember form their past, but also a solid foundation for living out their lives along with a reassuring anticipation of a secure and blessed future!
JOKE SOURCE: https://upjoke.com/spring-jokes.
POEM SOURCE: https://poets.org/poem/heart-tree.
The third verse reads as follows:
What does he plant who plants a tree? He plants, in sap and leaf and wood,
In love of home and loyalty And far-cast thought of civic good— His blessings on the neighborhood,
Who in the hollow of His hand
Holds all the growth of all our land--
A nation's growth from sea to sea
Stirs in his heart who plants a tree.
SCRIPTURE SOURCE: https://biblehub.com/bsb/psalms/1.htm.