Judah, my middle child, is a rocks, sticks, leaves, tree-climbing kind of boy. On one of our Fall walks a couple years ago, He picked up an acorn and with an excited smile, said, “Look!” As he handed them to me for safe keeping.
What I thought were simple, brown acorns, the kind with tops that look like hats, he thought were beautiful seeds of possibility.
A Simple Seed
I began to think about how I felt like that acorn.
Tossed. Un-noticed. Set-aside from the hustle of busy, important people, going to busy, important places, doing busy, important things.
Did my holding a fist full of acorns matter?
But then, I looked up.
And I saw this huge, green oak tree full of life. Squirrels dancing on the branches. Birds singing on its limbs. Life made possible by an acorn tucked under the earth where no one saw it, except the creator who formed it. Watered by God’s rains. Unnoticed by busy, important people doing busy, important things.
An acorn—offering its whole existence to service so that something might grow after its death—grander and more life-giving and beautiful than it could ever see, or ever be.
To me, this is parenthood.
And the scriptures show us, it is also the way of the kingdom of God.
