My friend, Gary Lee, who lives in a big city on the west coast, is a blessed man...
He has a big orange tree in the back of his house. Gary Lee and his family love picking oranges which, because of the warm climate, they can do almost year-around. He told me that he will climb up on the roof of his house and pluck oranges whenever he wanted them. Yet for me, a man who's been in prison for almost thirty years and only gets to eat fresh fruit infrequently, having access to such a tree would be like living in the Garden of Eden.
Yet like millions of Americans, my friend Gary Lee has a host of family concerns to contend with. He has kids to raise and a wife to care for. Gary Lee has to commute back and forth on a smoggy freeway, and he has to work in a tension-filled environment. His life has its share of stresses and pressures.
But when I learned about Gary Lee's tree, and how he'd gather his wife and children into their small back yard to pick oranges, I told him that the tree is a gift from God. I said this because being in prison has allowed me to better appreciate the little things in life like watching the birds come and go outside my window. Every morning I'd hear them sing, too. And during the winter months, for instance, I will watch the snow as it falls.
So for Gary Lee, his tree is one of God's oftentimes unnoticed blessings. Everyone, I believe, has something to be thankful for, even something as ordinary as a tree.
D.B.
Yet like millions of Americans, my friend Gary Lee has a host of family concerns to contend with. He has kids to raise and a wife to care for. Gary Lee has to commute back and forth on a smoggy freeway, and he has to work in a tension-filled environment. His life has its share of stresses and pressures.
But when I learned about Gary Lee's tree, and how he'd gather his wife and children into their small back yard to pick oranges, I told him that the tree is a gift from God. I said this because being in prison has allowed me to better appreciate the little things in life like watching the birds come and go outside my window. Every morning I'd hear them sing, too. And during the winter months, for instance, I will watch the snow as it falls.
So for Gary Lee, his tree is one of God's oftentimes unnoticed blessings. Everyone, I believe, has something to be thankful for, even something as ordinary as a tree.
D.B.
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