Several years ago, my father found a piece of ground that he thought would be a good investment...not for himself but for college funds for his great grand children...he purchased it and worked it. It was a piece of forest ground, covered with large trees. All of my children's and grand children's lives up to this point, have gone with grandpa and learned the value and the promise of this piece of ground..they have worked on it, learned about watering it, seeding it, caring for it, picnicked there, heard stories about it, never harvesting it...
It was the same with my husband's father as well. He gave each of his sons a piece of forest ground as well. He cut wood there until the year he died, earning wages and exercising until he could do it no longer... That piece of ground paid college tuition for our children as they each learned how to drive a cat, move logs to piles and watch the log trucks hall them off to the mill...
Both grandfathers were Tree farmers, educators. Each competed for Tree Farmer of the year, each won locally, then one went to State and then to regionals...they loved tending to, caring for, educating, sharing their forests...with their grandchildren, teachers, anyone who would listen and wanted to learn about the resource that God had entrusted to them...no matter what time of year we would visit, there was always a trip to the woods to see if anything had changed, to see new plantings, to see bear sign and taste to cool waters at the spring.....they all watched the trees grow over the years...
It was no surprise,when this morning after writing this, that upon opening the local newspaper that there was an article about forestry scholarships. My father was on the committee who chose the recipients at one time and gave to those funds to students who were majoring in forestry production. And there in the article was his name with student recipients...thank you again, dad for your faith, and foresight, both in your descendants and future forestry students...
My husband was they same way, only his were pieces of ground which yielded minerals. We would tour the properties at various time through life..still the promise of future funds for inheritances...
Land based resources, trees, minerals...each was a steward of the talents that were only graced by their Creator...now those grandchildren and great children are seeing the results that their grandfathers and great grandfathers have handed down to them with college funds, values, ethics, love....that promise fulfilled ....
I handed over the final papers collected about the forest ground yesterday to the buyer of some of those educating trees...the end of one era and on to the next...a quiet monumental moment...one which neither grandfather saw but only dreamed about...
Hebrews 11:1-2, 13, 39-40 Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.
This is what the ancients were commended for.
All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance, admitting that they were foreigners and strangers on earth.
These were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised,
since God had planned something better for us so that only together with us would they be made perfect.
No more walks in those woods, no more drinking from that cool spring...no more stories, or wood gathering ...no more riding in the decrepit little truck...no jokes and laughter, but so many memories of days gone by...I visited the gravesite and added new flowers, saying another goodbye until another time...thank you, dad...
Thank YOU for the faithful, the promises of the future, the visionaries , the descendants, and the ancestors...all who do their work diligently with Your promise of tomorrow ...stewards of Your creation....
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