Our native pecan tree may be 100 years old, we're not sure. We know it's at least 80 years old. It is nine feet around at the base and towers above other trees around it. It was struck by lightning at some point in the past and has an ugly gash high up in the trunk, but it still produces more than 200 pounds of pecans every other year. Picking them up off the ground is great exercise in the crisp, autumn air. I do get tired of bending over, so I usually just scoot along the ground picking up all that I can reach and then moving on. It's like manna from heaven! More nutritious food than we can use or give away is raining down. And the squirrels have a feast for sure. After cracking and picking, there's more than 50 pounds of nut meats. (No, I don't do the cracking myself. I take them to the produce company where they have machines for that.) But, after a while I sometimes feel like the biblical Israelites grumbling in the desert because they were tired of manna from heaven and wanted something else to eat. I guess it's human nature to go from "Oh! Thank you, thank you" to "Not again!" very quickly. That doesn't last long, though, when I remember my many blessings and I hope as I grow older that, like this tree, fruit of the Spirit can still be produced in me as long as I am willing.
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Our native pecan tree may be 100 years old, we're not sure. We know it's at least 80 years old. It is nine feet around at the base and towers above other trees around it. It was struck by lightning at some point in the past and has an ugly gash high up in the trunk, but it still produces more than 200 pounds of pecans every other year. Picking them up off the ground is great exercise in the crisp, autumn air. I do get tired of bending over, so I usually just scoot along the ground picking up all that I can reach and then moving on. It's like manna from heaven! More nutritious food than we can use or give away is raining down. And the squirrels have a feast for sure. After cracking and picking, there's more than 50 pounds of nut meats. (No, I don't do the cracking myself. I take them to the produce company where they have machines for that.) But, after a while I sometimes feel like the biblical Israelites grumbling in the desert because they were tired of manna from heaven and wanted something else to eat. I guess it's human nature to go from "Oh! Thank you, thank you" to "Not again!" very quickly. That doesn't last long, though, when I remember my many blessings and I hope as I grow older that, like this tree, fruit of the Spirit can still be produced in me as long as I am willing.
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