Tuesday, January 13, 2009

Decrepit trees (Matt. 3:10)

Under American tax laws, you can depreciate trees -- if you are an orchardist. It takes several years for a young apple tree to start bearing fruit. If properly tended, it can continue to do so for decades. Eventually, though, the tree's productivity tapers off, and it's time to yank it out, by the roots, and bring out the chainsaw. Seasoned apple wood is dense, burns hot, and makes excellent firewood.

Some trees are consigned to the flames sooner than others.

One verse from today's reading impressed itself upon my awareness this morning:
Balta şimdiden ağaçların köküne dayamıştır. İyi meyve vermeyen her ağaç kesilip ateşe atılacak.
And, here's a few words for today:
  • balta -- ax
  • ağaç -- tree
  • kök -- root
  • meyve -- fruit
  • ateşe -- fire
Martin Luther, the monk who catalyzed the Protestant Reformation, once pointed out how plants normally bear fruit for the benefit of other creatures. "Only Satan, and men controlled by Satan, bear fruit for themselves," he wrote. Productivity appears to be hard-wired into the structure of the universe. We exist to achieve purposes larger than ourselves. To benefit those around us, starting with those closest to us. People who achieve high levels of productivity in demanding vocations also tend to have long lives. Pablo Casals and Pablo Picasso were both working, as cellist and as artist, well into their nineties.

On the other hand, I'm sure we all know people of remarkable potential, who just sort of fizzled on the launch pad, and never really soared[1] into achieving the things they could have done. Dear friends, charming people, and derelicts. Often, these are the people who die early.

Retirees often experience health problems. While they were working, engaged with life, making things happen, they tended to outrun illness. The very act of generating output maintained their health. The vigorous older people we know are those who still have things to do.

May God grant us the grace to stay in the race all the days of our lives.


[1] When Jewish people "assimilate," and walk away from their faith and heritage, they frequently change their names. One such, a Nazi collaborator who today destabilizes nations, adopted a verb for a surname. An Esperanto verb, the future tense of "to soar." You may have heard of George Soros.

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