Generation after generation they come, children who will become adults, seedlings and saplings which must grow into mighty trees to replenish our dwindling forests.
How precious, this playful array of new growth, holding out against the winds of adversity, drought, and fire with an innate desire to to be adults and take their rightful places in the wilderness; their instinct for survival is impressive!
It is vital that parents assist them to achieve their dreams because they will become the workers and leaders of tomorrow, and it happens very quickly. They are vulnerable, these seedlings and saplings with bark so thin, shallow roots, and willowy weak limbs. Their eyes are wide, however, as they soak in everything from their surroundings. Jesus was quoted in the gospel of Matthew, "Suffer the little children and forbid them not, to come unto me, of such is the Kingdom of Heaven."
Sometimes, it seems, even animals make better parents than humans, as they go to any extreme to protect their young, feed them, and provide survival skills.
Smokey Bear said, "Only you can prevent forest fires." But there are other perils in the forest, too. There are predators of all types.
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The odyssey of young trees begins the moment their seeds are cast upon the soil and birds and rodents feed upon them. Should the seeds survive, germinate, and burst from the soil as seedlings and into saplings, they become food for rabbits and deer. Are not our young "babes of the woods" similarly at risk from human predators, many disguised as sheep?
How can we protect our youngsters and raise them to be mighty trees? Only by being a mighty tree ourselves, providing them protection from the wind, shade from the sun, and whispering to them daily, "I love you."
Dennis Cooke
Proctor
