Yesterday I had the blessing to talk to my mama…

She is at the other side of the Atlantic Ocean, still living in my small beautiful island { yes it is mine } where all my siblings are as well.

After I hung up the phone, reflecting on our conversation  and while looking at my Christmas Tree, the memory of a special tree in my life came into my mind.

 

Would you stay with me for a minute and let me share with you a little story…?

Thank you for doing so.

 

Years ago during the time of The Campbell’s great depression 😉

{ I am talking about college days when all we could afford to buy were things that were extremely cheap and on sale }

Back then my husband was going to school full-time, while working full-time and while being  married to a full-time mom of two + pregnant with our third child.

We didn’t have much but we had each other and that was enough for us.

 

We decided right after he graduated that it was time to purchase a family home.

I married a man of wisdom so we had saved money for a down payment but we knew all we could afford even though was a HUD home.

 

We looked without hope but to our surprised we found our property, a $115,000 rambler in Orem,UT.

{ I wish I had a picture of it }

I was so excited about it that the ugly counters tops, the ugly cabinets, the ugly carpet and even the uglier basement did not STOP me.

I knew we could fix it…

{ darn it I wish I had a blog back them }

We felt  blessed to  build to some extent our home together… I felt it was  so r♥mantic.

 

After the dirty carpet was replaced with hardwood floors,
the kitchen cabinets were painted, and the new baby was born our cherry tree in our backyard blossomed.

 

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Oh my goodness!

That was the most gorgeous tree I had ever seen!

We had tons of cherries during the season, even more than we could eat.

One day while cleaning up the backyard I realized that a colony of little tiny almost
invisible ants were working hard picking up small pieces of the cherries that had fallen on the ground.

I remember worrying just for a few seconds about them since they seemed to be
too close to the tree but then I got distracted admiring their hard work and determination.

They were on a mission and their accomplishment seemed great to me.

Besides…

What harm could a bunch of little ants do to such a strong and mature tree?

 

It was weeks later that I started to see our Cherry tree look a bit sad.

The leaves were not as green and crisp as they used to be just a week earlier.

I went outside and nothing looked out of the ordinary.

The little ants were still there, busy and working, going back and forth in a perfect line still picking up  dry cherries from the ground.

 

After a few days it was obvious that the condition of the tree was getting worse.

  I finally called the local nursery and I asked them what could be wrong with it?

 

Have you seen any insects eating the leaves?

No.

 

Are you not giving enough or too much water to the tree?

No.

 

Have you see any bugs near to the trunk?

No!

Wait!

Yeeeessss….

 

Mam I think those ants are killing your tree!

 

After paying closer attention and tracking their pathway I realized that the man on the other side of the phone unfortunately had been right.
The ants had made their home all around the roots, there were thousands of
them… and all of a sudden I must confess that they didn’t look that good to me anymore…

THEY HAD KILLED MY TREE!

 

I share this with you because it is Christmas time.

The fact that I am far from my homeland makes me appreciate my family even more.

It breaks my heart to see how we allowed little ants to kill our friendships and family trees.

Feelings of pride, anger, jealousy, lies, fights, a word, a thought, a lack of kindness can feel
as small as an ant is.

After all, we are strong… We are mature…

What can a bunch of  tiny almost
invisible  feelings, thoughts or even actions do?

 

Sadly I know too many families near and dear  to me where children don’t  talk to their parents,
where parents don’t talk to their own kids,  where brothers and sisters have not spoken with
each other for years.

…Why?  Because they have  allowed a stupid little “ant” multiply by hundreds of bitter feelings,

 to the point that they have covered their hearts  as the small ants in my backyard covered the roots of my tree.

 

Families and friendships where blossoms and beautiful fruits
of love should have grown  have been replaced with sadness,
pain, anger and a lack of forgiveness,  damaging the once green and healthy beautiful tree.

We may wonder at times  why,

we may think how that happened,

we may be amazed by the power of a small threat, hurtful word, or unkind deed…

but in the end we all have the power to sit around and do
nothing about it or take care of the problem and make that tree healthy again.

 

A cherry tree was born to give sweet cherries

it was not meant to be  killed by a small ant.

Each of us were born to be happy, grow and give fruits of love and charity

not to be consumed by pride, anger and heartache.

 

Our tree died…

It was too late… but I have seen in my own life that it is never too late to heal our souls.

Thank goodness for second chances!

There is not a specific recipe or spray to heal relationships but it is my experience that one simple  ” I am sorry” ,

“Please forgive me”, “I forgive you”,

“I love  you”  and “I miss you”… have a great effect over them.

 

Let me say one more thing…

{ I promise I will shut my mouth after this. }

The funny and sad part of the story of my tree is that it didn’t matter whose fault it was that the tree died.

If you ask the ants perhaps they think it was the fault of the person that planted the tree… perhaps the ants were there first.

Who the heck a human think he/she is to take their land?

 

If you ask me,   I will tell you it was the ant’s fault. They were ultimatly the cause of the death of my tree.

 

If you ask the man from the nursery perhaps he thinks it was my fault for not taking care of the problem when I first noticed it.

 

What I am trying to say is that it truly doesn’t matter whose fault it is…

What matters is the sad reality  that the tree is dead because no one did anything about it.

 

I really want to wish you a Merry Christmas…

I hope we all take a minute to kill those invisible but real ants around us,

powerful enough perhaps to destroy our tree. 

And if our tree is healthy I hope we take a minute to appreciate its fruits and the sweetness of its beauty.

It is my Christmas wish that we all spend Christmas
surrounded by those we love the most and that we all can remember that Family
is really the greatest  gift and one of the few than can  last forever.

From my heart to your…

Merry Christmas my Friends!

Love…

me.

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