Falling Acorns

The noise was eerie. I was walking outside my house and I heard limbs crackling and trees creaking. I knew they were doing some utility work a lot or two over so I thought it was that … but it wasn’t. Their machines were idle and the sound of wood rustling was too close.

I walked around the house and investigated. There was a light wind, the limbs were moving ever so minimally, and the still green leaves were rustling. Within a 20-30 feet from the house is a line of trees, mostly evergreen types. But just behind my house are three huge oak trees. These trees are older than me, older than the house, and probably older than the church building next door, a 1907 structure.

And then I heard another sound. At first I thought is was squirrels jumping limbs. But no. It was something falling ‘through’ the trees. The mysterious sound was more than falling through the trees but falling from the trees. Acorns. Hard little large seeds that grow into huge shade providing, squirrel inhabited, bird loving … oak trees.

The ACORNS kept falling. One. Five. Twenty. Hundreds. Occasionally I heard the metallic ding from the roof of the car. It hit everything in the shade circle. I texted my wife and she gave no sympathy, no real understanding.

So I started thinking about lessons from acorns, maybe it was the hurting whittle head talking, but here goes …

A – all over the place, they sat there on the ground, the car, the patio, the sidewalk, driveway, everywhere … maybe we should think of impacting everywhere around us, not just one little area/spread the joy
C – cute, the little acorns were cute, I don’t know how edible (beyond for squirrels), but they are so cute … life should be enjoyable, not always grim and dreary, look for the positive
O – one, it only takes one little acorn to make a big tree … we are not too small to make a big difference in this world
R – release, the acorn had to be released to fall and to fulfill its purpose … we have to let go of everything, we have to die to ourselves to really fulfill what God has for us
N – noise, the tiny acorns created a noise that attracted me, a bystander … we too need to make a little noise that attracts those around us to see what is going on

So, this was just a few pondering from little acorns.