Tammy's Tree
By Marcia K. Leaser
March 18, 2006I remember when four-year-old Tammy dragged the tiny maple from the woods behind our house and proclaimed proudly, "It's mine, huh, Mommy."
I doubt I'd have been so proud of the tree's bent trunk, sparse root system, and double top. What few branches there were on the spindly trunk had been stripped off as she tugged it from its original home in the dense forest. But Tammy was quite happy with it, so I went to get the shovel.
After the hole was dug, she lovingly spread the few remaining roots carefully into place
with her tiny fingers. Since Tammy had watched me transplant some thirty-five trees in our
spacious front yard, she was aware of the routine.
"Well," Tammy said proudly, "There she is."
I shook my head, certain the tree would never make it through the summer. Tammy stood back eyeing the scrawny trunk and broken branches.
"OK, Mom, now let's pray." She took me by surprise. "You know like you do with all your trees...."
"Oh, sure, Honey." I chuckled as I remembered saying after planting all my trees, "Well
I've done all I can. Now it's in the Lord's hands.”
We knelt beside Tammy's tree, and with folded hands asked God to protect it. After the
prayer, she seemed satisfied and was off to play. I knew nothing short of a miracle would make
this tree live.
Summer came and went and Tammy's tree lived-if you could call it that. The following
spring, her tree was the last one to leaf out, and it never grew an inch through the entire summer.
This went on for several years and after every fall I'd ask Tammy if she wanted to get another tree
to represent her. Her answer was always the same, "No, that's my tree. Just give it a chance.
Six springs later, when Tammy was ten, I'd almost forgotten the little tree that never grew.
Then one day, I turned into the driveway and noticed one maple tree shooting out leaf-filled branches all over the trunk. It was Tammy's tree and it was much ahead of the others.
As the summer progressed, it continued to sprout eight new branches. Of course, it didn't tower over the trees that had been growing steadily for the past six years. But it had grown five inches, and I think it was the loveliest, fullest tree in the yard.
Tammy would announce to all who came to visit, "See that pretty tree with all those leafy
branches? That's my very own tree that I planted when I was four."
There was a lesson in that for me as a parent. How many times do we sell our children
short because they don't seem to be developing as rapidly as their peers? Maybe they fall behind in academics at school, or just don't seem to be interested in what we feel they should be interested in. to often we’re ready to give up on them and consider them failures in life, when all they need are the right conditions in which to excel.
What parents need is a faith like Tammy's. She prayed a simple prayer, never doubting God would answer. And He did!
« Back to Stories & Plays
See All Products
