Beautiful Gifts
I“Hey Kel, I need your help with something…”
So begins a text message that suddenly spikes my heart rate.
His texts were usually like that – frantic, urgent, and apocalyptic. He sends me articles from The Atlantic that are 46 pages long about everything from politics to polar bears. My brother’s moments in his life have always been characterized by that – intensity.
So, it stands to reason that the first line of the text raised my blood pressure. I hesitantly read on and found out that his next-door neighbors in California, who are migrant farm workers, had left him several boxes of huge, beautiful red apples on his doorstep. He wanted to know what I suggest he give in return as a good neighbor. I breathed a sigh of relief and suggested he make a pie with some of the apples to give to them.
I don’t know if that pie every got baked or delivered, but a couple weeks later, another text came through. This text had the same urgency as the apple box, but this time, you could almost hear the desperation in his message. The giant sequoias of Yosemite National Park, trees that have experienced thousands of years on earth, that have existed long before the time of Christ, are burning up into extinction from the brutal California drought and wildfires. Although I’ve never seen them in person, he lives close to Yosemite and described the giant sequoias as majestic, and the sight of them as moving as a religious experience. Then he made his appeal: “Can you get your church to email and call [Joe] Manchin to tell him to vote for climate legislation? I’d feel like I did something, anything. Perhaps tuck it into one of your devotionals?”
Therefore, I have done just that. As I promised him, I have presented this appeal to you. Like the box brimming full of big, beautiful apples left on our doorstep, we have a beautiful, unexpected gift in this planet. From giant sequoias to lush rain forests, to frozen ocean waters, to scorching deserts, to towering mountains, to vast prairie, the world is a gift to us. How do we repay the Creator for this beautiful gift? Surely no pie in the world is big enough. But we can call, write, post, march, and even deliver on an appeal from California to the good people of Peace Church. Your help will be as sweet as pie.
Senator Joe Manchin’s phone number in Washington D.C.:
P: 202-224-3954
https://www.manchin.senate.gov
Holy One,
Thank you for the beauty of this earth. Help us to be good stewards of your planet. We know that you have created the earth and its inhabitants. Help us to realize we are all connected in the beautifully and mysteriously interwoven biodiversity of creation.
Amen
Kelly’s brother lives outside of Fresno, California and is currently serving in the United States Navy. He is preparing for a yearlong deployment in the fall or winter of this year. He would love to come back to the States and visit the giant sequoias when he returns. His sister, Kelly, and her family, would like to visit him in Yosemite and see these beautiful giants upon his return!