I just got back from today’s hiking adventure: Lake Maria State Park. What a wonderful day!
I love trees. I especially love trees in the fall. Someone may quibble with me about whether the “peak” viewing of the changing leaves was last week or this week, but today was gorgeous. Shocking reds. Brilliant oranges. Golden yellows. Each color beautiful in and of itself, but together – breathtaking.
And that’s just the leaves. The trees themselves were majestic to behold. Even the fallen ones captivated me.
All day I kept thinking: Gift from God. All of this is gift from God. For us. And then, when we had gotten back to the trail center, we decided to do one last short trail – an interpretive trail that had an accompanying pamphlet explaining the sorts of things such pamphlets do.
The last item in the pamphlet was labeled, “How Valuable are Forests?” In answer, it quoted the following from an unknown author:
I am the heat of your hearth on cold winter nights, the friendly shade screening you from the summer sun. My fruits are refreshing draughts quenching your thirst as you travel on. I am the beam that holds your house, the board of your table, the bed on which you lie, the timber that builds your boat. I am the handle of your hoe, the door of your homestead, the wood of your cradle, the shell of your coffin. I am the gift of God and the friend of man.
Thank you God, for the gift of trees.
Creo en Dios! 