November 18 – “Fall, after all”

The City of Galveston had another one of those free tree give-aways a few Saturdays back.  They are attempting to get the island back to the same level of foliage that it had before Hurricane Ike killed off most of the trees here.  Last time they had one we got two sycamore trees.  We figured they would be the best fit, since we did, after all, live on Sycamore Drive.  And I guess they were from good stock, because both of them are doing really well.  They are in the front yard and are well on their way to be great shade producers, especially the one that is positioned between our front porch and the setting sun. 

To be honest, we weren’t going to take advantage of this offer.  Too much trouble to stand in line on a Saturday morning.  But Nathan happened to be stationed at the fire station across the street.  He picked up a pecan tree and something with pretty leaves.  We still don’t know what that one is.  I agreed to swing by and take them to his house for him, and while there he talked me into stopping by the give-away.  Strangely enough, when I got there they had decided to give each customer four trees instead of just two.  And there was no line at all.  So I walked away with four persimmon trees.  I have no idea what a persimmon is, much less what their tree looks like.  Apparently it’s some kind of fruit. 

As it has all worked out, we now have three persimmon trees in various spots around our house.  Nathan has the one pretty-leaf tree over at his house.  And we still have two others left with no place to put them.  We might hang onto them and plant them next door whenever they finish tearing that house down.  We did offer one to Josh and Christi.  Oddly, she seemed very hesitant about accepting it.  After a bit of pressing Chris finally figured out that the only tree Christi had seen planted in similar circumstances was the one Josh managed to get when they lived in Mansfield.  It arrived at their house already taller than the roof.  I think they had to tear out their fence to get it into place.  Very nice tree.  But we assured her that the ones we had were still in five gallon buckets.  Not all that difficult to maneuver.  I guess we have time to decide … if we can keep them alive.  It’s hard to tell since they have no leaves on them.  It is Fall, after all. 

Psalms 39:7 says, “But now, Lord, what do I look for?  My hope is in you.”

Father, please grow those trees.  They are great evidence of how you can take a five gallon bucketful and turn it into something bigger than a house.  Amen.