I Don't Have Time.....

A long time ago there existed this enormous apple tree. A small boy loved that tree so, and everyday he would go and play around the tree.

The little boy would climb the tree branches all the way to its highest point; he would eat his apples and would even take a nap under its shade. The little boy loved the tree and the tree loved the little boy.

As the time passed, the little boy grew up and never returned to play around the enormous tree. One day the little boy, now a young man, returned to the tree and heard the tree tell him very sad, “Have you come to play with me?”…but the young man responded, “I am no longer the little boy that used to play around enormous trees” what I want know are toys and I need money to buy them.

“I am sorry, said the tree, but I have no money...my suggestion though is that you take some of my apples and go sell them, this way you will get the money you want to buy the toys you’d like,” and the young man felt very happy. He took all the apples from the tree and got a lot of money and once again the tree was happy.

But the young man never returned after getting his money and the tree once again got very sad.

A time later, the young man returned and the tree got real happy once again and asked him, “Have you come to play with me?”… “I don’t have time to play, I must work to support my family, I need a house to live with my wife and kids, can you help me?... “I am sorry, said the tree, I don’t have a house, but…you can cut my branches and build a house.”

The young man cut the tree branches and this made the tree happy once again, but the young man never again returned…from that point on, the tree got very sad and lonely.

On a warm sunny day, the young man, now a grown man, returned to the apple tree and the tree was ecstatic. “Have you come to play with me?”… asked once again the apple tree.

The man answered: “I am sad and becoming old, I want a boat to navigate around and rest, can you give me one?”…the tree answered: “Use my trunk so that you can build your boat and that way you can navigate where you’d like and be happy.” The man cut the tree’s trunk and built his boat, then he left to go navigate for a long time.

Finally, after a long time had passed, the man returned and the tree told him, “I am very sorry, but I have nothing more to give to you, not even my apples.” The man replied, “I don’t have anymore teeth to bite; nor strength to climb your branches…for now I am simply old.”

Then the tree with tears in his eyes told him, “I honestly cannot give you anything else, the only thing that is left of me are my dead roots.” The man responded, “I don’t need much anymore, only a place where I can rest, I am so tired after many years.”

“Well, the old roots of a tree are the best place to lie down and rest, come sit with me and rest,” said the tree. The man sat beside the tree and the tree with tears in his eyes smiled at the man and was filled with happiness.

This story makes me think of each one of us, the tree is like our parents, when we are children, we love them and we play with mom and dad…when we grow up, we leave them…some of us only return to them when we need them or when we are in trouble. It doesn’t matter what the circumstance is, they are always there to lend us a hand and give us all we need to make us happy once again.

You might that the young man was cruel with the tree, but it is in this very manner that we have at times treated our parents.

Remember, if you are not a father or mother, yet, pretty soon you will be. Take advantage of the time you have them with you, and don’t wait until it’s too late and you can no longer turn back time.

Exodus 20:12 “Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the Lord your God has given you.”