In Summer: Great Oaks

A few months ago we were reading in Alma 37 before bed, including verse 6, "By small and simple things are great things brought to pass."  

We started discussing what that means and I asked the kids for examples of small actions that can lead to great or wonderful results.  After listening to Lucy share a few ideas, I saw a lightbulb go off for Spencer, "Hey!  I know one!"  he chimed in. Then he solemnly recited one of the Kindergarten phrases we'd been memorizing at school, "Great oaks from little acorns grow."

I smiled at the excitement in his eyes and we wrote the phrase in the margin of our scriptures. 

When we made our annual pilgrimage to Wyview for the Fourth of July.  W spent several evenings under the sprawling shade of our old "backyard" oak tree.  

I felt sincere awe as Spencer tossed me a tiny acorn and we compared it to the expansive canopy  overhead -

- the same familiar branches that hovered over so many happy days gone by.

Which is, of course, the reason why we love to go back.  To remember all that warmth.   

I loved laying in the shade with Lucy the Sunday after the Fourth.

She looked so luxurious on that carpet of green with her gold skirt and her Oreo. 

After a few minutes or casual chatter and happy reminiscing, she said fervently, "If I could have any present it would be that tree!" 

I nodded and smiled wistfully, wishing there was a way to grant her wish that didn't involve a lifetime -  more than a lifetime -of waiting!  

But some wishes do require waiting.
We agreed that it was good to be able to visit that old oak from time to time.  To enjoy the shade and the beauty and the memories.  We talked about the value of that huge tree - worth thousands and thousands of dollars after all these years of slow, steady growth.  We wondered and daydreamed about who might have planted it in the first place.

And we discussed how a similar kind of slow, steady growth is the purpose of our lives as well.

Sometimes slower than we want.  But in the end, so valuable.