Seeds of Life

Years ago, my best friend and wife, Julie, picked up a hickory nut and placed it on our kitchen countertop overlooking our cozy little sunroom. Bringing this little miracle of nature indoors started with Julie’s continuous desire to provide a diverse and loving environment for our four children.

But like every tree, this little seed grew into something so much more. As the moisture in the soil was absorbed by the seed, we noticed rapid changes as the seed swelled, cracked, and eventually sprouted a little hickory tree.

I thought of it as no more than a fun addition to our living space where our four small children started their morning breakfast munching on cereal and talking about life’s happenings – the upcoming field trip, the previous night’s little league game and why did we run out of milk for the morning? There the potted seed sat quietly in a prominent location next to the small kitchen reading lamp and the coffee maker.

We could see the seedling beginning to peek out of the stout, hardened nut as it stretched for the sunlight showering through the sunroom windows. Soon, the new little tree greeted us each morning with noteworthy changes, and our conversations were punctuated with the progression of this little hickory tree.