“Whoever pursues righteousness and kindness will find life, righteousness, and honor.” Proverbs 21:21 (ESV)

May I introduce you to Miss Maple, the 21 year old transplant, whose fiery tones of orange and red have graced our otherwise bland lawn with the radiance of autumn. This photo was taken on a sunny October morning. Each day since, has brought bolder colors to her outreaching arms, reminding me of the spreading goodness one small act of kindness can bring to others. Miss Maple is the result of one such kindness years ago.

On a drizzly day in early autumn 2005, I got a call from my mother — another reminder to “please come dig this little seedling” from the foundation of her house. It could easily have been whisked away all year; instead, she carefully guarded the growing maple, knowing I would need new trees for our lawn. We’d just moved into our new house in May, established a lawn, and needed all the help we could get with filling it. Just one little thought for someone else, became a seedling held and guarded, with several kind reminders to dig it before it grew too large to be moved without damage to the roots. With some protest, the little tree came out with one woody root which grew parallel to the ground, shaped like a tap root, and about a yard long. The several shorter feeding roots were no problem, but that yard-long one! Thankful for the gentle rain, I dug the usual hole you would for a small root ball, but added to the side a trench to hold the slender tap-like root. Looking back now, with the one horizontal root, I wonder if the tree grew on love and hope. It was odd looking, to say the least, until covered with the damp dirt and a prayer. Twenty one years later, on another drizzly morning in early autumn, Miss Maple brings a glow to the gloom; like a stop light reminding me to stop and consider what one small (even unnecessary) deed can do. It just may grow into a singularly important part of someone’s day, or life, or lawn.

Through the window, a blazing reminder of life’s radiance in any season.

“I think that I shall never see A poem lovely as a tree. A tree whose hungry mouth is prest against the earth’s sweet flowing breast; A tree that looks at God all day, And lifts her leafy arms to pray; A tree that may in Summer wear A nest of robins in her hair; Upon whose bosom snow has lain; Who intimately lives with rain. Poems are made by fools like me, But only God can make a tree.” Copyright Credit: Joyce Kilmer, “Trees” from Poetry 2, no. 5 (August 1915): 153

One of the first poems my mother taught me to love.

In whatever season you are living, I hope you are enjoying many happy returns of kindness given, and kindness received.