Resource Management Innovations

The Maple Tree Blog

I have been blessed by God with an incredible gift of nature sitting at the side of my house. This gift stands in the form of a huge, old, maple tree. Its majestic beauty towers into the air with its branches dressed in thousands of leaves reaching proudly, as if on display for each person that passes by.

I have loved this tree, not only for its aesthetic attraction, but also for the many ways that it has served my family and I throughout the summer. It has provided an excellent source of shade when I have desired to read outside. The maple has extended some much needed protection from the rain for a rather spoiled Puggle (Pug/Beagle mix) named Zoe, a dog which tends to be a “fair-weather” poo-er and pee-er. Most importantly, it has been the home of my quiet time with the Father, who seems intent on speaking to me there when I am inclined to listen to Him…which tends to be far too infrequent, I might add.

 

 

We moved into this new home in July and during that month, and from August to October, my love for this gift from God continued to grow immeasurably, however, by late October, and into November my fond feelings toward this tree began to diminish. The cooler air temperatures no longer made the shade something I looked forward to. My quiet time with our Lord required a change of venue, and the colours now appearing on the leaves reminded me that with such a huge tree, comes the huge responsibility awaiting me, just around the corner.

As November arrived, the inevitable happened and the raking began. My neighbour across the street seemed to take some sadistic pleasure in mentioning that he used 64 bags last year for his maple. I peered over to see the tree in his yard was somewhat smaller than mine. While writing this today I have just raked and filled 19 bags…..the good news being that over half the leaves have now fallen.

 

 

This morning though I feel somewhat differently while raking these leaves. Why? Well let’s just say that God has found a way to speak to me one more time under the maple. Allow me to explain……

Last Sunday I was about to take Zoe for an early morning walk. The air was crisp as the temperature hovered around zero degrees. While out under the maple I started hearing some strange sounds. There was a series of snapping noises, interspersed by short swishes. They were occurring about every two to three seconds. I looked around but there were no animals or people in sight. It was then that I looked back at the maple and realized that the sounds were coming directly from the tree. What I was hearing was the snapping sound of leaves breaking from the limbs and then a swish, as they fell through the remaining leaves on the tree. Somehow the cold temperature was causing some peculiar acoustic effects.

As I continued to listen to the concert playing in my yard a rather sobering thought occurred to me. For whatever reason, my mind connected what was happening with the leaves, to the plight of hungry children around the world. (My brain can intertwine some interesting parallels at times). As the leaves were snapping and falling every two or three seconds, the thought occurred to me that a child is dying from hunger in this world at about the same rate. While this thought invaded my mind, the auditory metaphor happening before me became a grizzly reminder of the way this catastrophe continues……with so little concern from those of us who have the power and the means to stop it.

Zoe and I started out on our morning trek afterwards, but my thoughts continued to return to the maple metaphor taking place in my yard. The similarities between my attitude towards the leaves, and society’s attitude toward dying children began to materialize on a much broader scale. I thought of how the beauty of each single leaf can get lost in the multitude of piles of leaves on the ground. Isn’t this also true as we ponder the alarming statistics which spell out how millions of children die each year? Somehow this incomprehensible number is so overwhelming that it seems to minimize the impact of what is happening to these children; all of whom are made in God’s own image. Each one of these children have a name…..have a mom and a dad…..a sibling…….they have a smile, they cry……and maybe they even have a laugh. No doubt, they have hoped for someone to care about them.

 

I thought about the several days of raking and bagging that had taken place up to this point. What a nuisance the leaves had been! Why couldn’t this maple tree have grown in someone else’s back yard? This was my latest attitude toward the gift of nature that God had placed in my midst. Is this also not the attitude of government and people toward the children who are starving in developing nations? How inconvenient it is that millions of children should be dying of hunger at a time when the global economy is heading south. Several decades ago the governments of the 22 richest nations in the world pledged to give 0.7% of their national income to help developing countries. Right now only 5 countries are meeting this goal. Canada gives less than 0.3% of its GDP for foreign aid. Yet I dare not point my finger squarely at the government, for truth be known, my own giving would not meet such a target either.

Perhaps the most encouraging or depressing fact, depending on how you look at it, is where this metaphor breaks down. The fact that the leaves on the maple die and fall, is not preventable, and will never be, unless some immense climatic change should take place in the future. The death of children from hunger in this world, however, is entirely preventable. All that is required is the will and commitment of people like you and me.

Bono made this very clear when he said…….

“The fact is that this generation -- yours, my generation ... we're the first generation that can look at poverty and disease, look across the ocean to Africa and say with a straight face, we can be the first to end this sort of stupid extreme poverty, where in the world of plenty, a child can die for lack of food in its belly.”  (BONO, 2004 PENN Address)

What must we do?......

We need to continually be aware of the fact that children are dying of hunger needlessly every day and they need our help….SNAP!

We must never lose sight of the beauty and gift of each individual child, and we must allow the death of that child to break our hearts…as it breaks God’s heart…SNAP!

We need to realize that hunger is a totally preventable cause of death and that each of us must take responsibility to make sure that this does not happen anymore…SNAP!

Unfortunately I tend to talk better than I act. God placed a gentle reminder on my heart that cold morning. While the leaves on my lawn may be a temporary nuisance (I won’t deny that), the children of this world who won’t get to eat today…..or tomorrow……should never be. I encourage you to join me in my effort to be more mindful of those beautiful children who are literally starving to death every day, pray for them, and make a pledge to do something to change this reality, even if it’s to help just one of God’s precious children.

 

…..…SNAP!

Garry Howe
 

Posted By: Garry Howe ~ My Brother, My Friend. 2011/11/20