Chapter 1

Quite a few years ago, when I was growing up my dad said "Wayne, I want you to build me a table" I replied yes dad I think I can do that. What kind do you want, I asked? He then smiled and reached into his pocket and pulled out an acorn. It was an acorn from a white oak tree. Dad said, go and plant it I'm in no hurry for this table. Come on dad, I said it will take a hundred years to grow a tree big enough. Then we both had a good chuckle.

Many years later when I was in the hospital, because of a heart attack, I remembered that story. I was lying in bed this night because sometimes it is difficult to sleep when in a hospital bed. Then I noticed a white oak tree in the hospital grounds. It was quite large and about a hundred years old, I thought. It was in April and it was misty that night. The tree was lit up from some of the outside hospital lights.

As I looked for a long time it seemed that the very limbs, with all the small branches, were connected like a placenta into the night sky. It looked like it was for some reason clinging to the misty night sky. It was beautiful even without leaves. I just knew that it was alive. I saw energy going back and forth from sky to tree and from tree to sky.

Now at this time I wasn't sure just how alive I was as I was on much medication for this heart condition. For three nights I spent a lot of time looking and wondering about this. My mind said, I am in a similar condition. I am also trying to reach up to the only God that I could understand at that time. The tree was part of the whole scheme. The Creator loved the tree and the tree was like a child that was reaching out to its mom or dad and so was I. It was comforting. For the first time in my life I really felt that I too was part of this giant thought of our Creator.

From that time till this present day I knew that I am a part of the whole creation. At last some understanding came to me that I had asked for, for so many times. It was beautiful, a prayer answered.

Chapter 2

After a couple of years went by my heart condition worsened. It got so that I had to close my business. I had to loose a lot then but the worst loss was that I no longer could earn my living and meet all the responsibilities, you know bills to pay etc.

We moved up to our cabin and continued on living at a lesser pace so to speak. Well I still was part of this creation but not on my terms anymore. I was sick. My pride was hurting.

One of my pet sayings was to my wife and it went something like this "as long as I have my health I will be able to manage any situation that comes to us" We got through the winter and fared not too badly.

The following spring, being dependant on a wood stove, caused me to start getting the wood supply done. We cut what we could of some of the dead trees. This was not enough though. There was, west of the cabin, a large oak tree. It had quite a few cord of wood in it. It was huge. The trunk was about four feet at the base and about sixty feet tall. A beautiful tree and I hesitated to cut it down, but when I looked at it closer, I found that it was starting to show signs of rotting. Now I was justified in cutting it down, because it was going to die anyway.

It was too large for Margie and I to cut by ourselves. We had a neighbor help us do that. We were lucky to have a wood splitter that my dad left me when he died. The cutting and splitting took us quite a while, a few months. Everything was hard for me because of my heart condition. Margie did most of the work but I was able to run the splitter.

We rolled a large round to the splitter early one morning and began splitting. We just split one in two and we were surprised to find it just full of black ants. It seemed like there were millions of them. We both watched and decided to wait for another day so these little ants could find another home. As we were looking at these little beings something strange happened. We noticed that these ants were not running away. They were all helping to get the eggs or larva moved to safety. Now these ants were all very well organized as if they had some kind of a plan.

There were several lines of them and they were going one after the other but the bigger ones were carrying all the eggs. It was as if there were evacuation routes for these ants. They were so organized it was just like a community trying out an evacuation plan. We both felt so bad, just like we were the big giants destroying a village of little beings.

Over the next few days the thoughts of the acorn came to me. This was all part of a community, ants and all. I pondered many things that summer. I wondered if that acorn that my dad gave me years ago ever grew up.

Chapter 3

Why does the tree grow? The roots seem to grow down into the soil and find the necessary nourishment for growing a tree. Yes, this is part of the creation process. The roots know where to go because the minerals are there and calling the roots. They are saying, "come here there is iron here and soda and a lot of water over here". Some are getting the nitrogen and the carbon. The roots get what they are told to get and they get it at the place where they are called.

It is carried to the trunk, the limbs, the branches, and the leaves. It is taken there via tunnels and ductwork that only a scientist could explain. The whole tree is just like a community. The leaves are like little factories that are green and when they shut down for the cold weather they turn gold. They then fall on the ground only to find themselves being transformed again to go back up the tree, defying all the so-called laws of gravity.

This tree that started from an acorn, from another tree is part of a major plan. There were squirrels that housed themselves on that tree. They played and grew up on that same tree that now provides the heat in my cabin on a cold winter day. It provides the food for the squirrels and the field mice that live here. It provided the branch to hang the tire that my grandchildren swung on. It provided us with shade for those few, but oh so hot summer days.

The tree was part of the community that I was part of. It is gone now and so are the ants that used it for a few years. Not as many squirrels this year. They are all gone. Or are they really gone or have they just become a part of this community that we just can't quite see yet.

Well this little story is never ending. The more I think of it, the more that I could add to it. Thanks for the acorn dad.

Sincerely
Wayne