Easily obsessed with change and the end of the world, Americans think little about the future past their own lifetime. We plan to be sure we have enough in the retirement account, but we rarely build anything that will last beyond our days on earth.
My friend Bud planted walnut trees when he was 60. Instead of looking for a harvest of nuts, he pruned the trees while young to provide long straight lumber someday. That day would come long after his graduation to heaven, but Bud increased the value of his property for his descendants. He was thinking past his own life span and concerns.
Too often we are short-sighted and self-focused. We don't think about our own family descendants and the legacy we are leaving them, much less how we are impacting the earth for coming generations.
Rumors swirl that the world will end in 2012, but that's not the first time that has happened. Such rumors circulated multiple times since Jesus left the earth, and the world may well last another 2000 years before its renewal in God's Kingdom. So we need to be responsible with creation, and with each other.
Bud didn't just plant trees for his family's future. He is a kind and gentle man, who has also passed on a firm foundation of spiritual nurture and health to his family. That will guide their future even more than trees.
What are you planting that will influence others?
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Hopefully people are raising their children to help pass on history and knowledge for future generations. A date for the end of the world is unimportant if you live each day as it is meant to be lived. Jaime McDaniel
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