Trees. I love trees. They can be beautiful in bloom and their green canopy provides good shade on a hot day. The floors you walk on and the walls you live in came from the trees. Their limbs are perfect joists for treehouse foundations, and they are fun to climb. You can hide behind them. You can pin up targets for BB gun marksmanship on their trunks as well. Hey, the boy in me still lives.
So many things can be credited to trees including your next deep breath. Everybody needs to have trees in their life. I know that sounds a little strange, but trees provide us with life. Scientifically and spiritually.
Scientifically speaking, according to the Arbor Day Foundation, in one year a mature tree will absorb 48 pounds of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and release oxygen in exchange as part of the photosynthesis process. See, Coach Arrington, I really was listening in your science class!
Along this line of thinking, Boston University is in the process of conducting experiments in the northeast in cities like Boston, New York, Philadelphia, and Washington, D.C. New trees are being planted in existing parks and in areas where buildings have been demolished and actual measurements are being taken on the reduction of carbon emissions and oxygen output in these urban areas. Now us folks in the country have a lot of great trees around, but our city slicker friends need air to breathe, too, right?
Before all of my conservative friends go into a meltdown, this is not a political piece on carbon, the ozone, or the environment. I’m simply stating that trees are part of the life cycle by providing us oxygen to breathe. God’s perfect creation to suck up the bad air and spit out the good air in return.
But how is a tree spiritual? Just ask the Prophet Jeremiah. He wrote in chapter 17, “Blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord, whose confidence is in Him. They will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream. It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green. It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit.”
The spiritual tree. Now that’s a tree worth finding. I’ve been fortunate enough to find several trees along the way that were men of faith, love, work ethic, integrity, and laughter. These men helped shape me or change me. Some of them have been around all my life and some came along at just the right time.
I’ve had trees in my life like Richard Hillman who reminded me of “whatsoever you’ve done to the least of these you’ve done unto Me.” My grandfather, Walter Patrick, was a tree in my life who taught me to put first things first and, whatever you do, do it expertly no matter how tough things get. Yes, my writing column is named from his saying. Butch Baston was a tree that reminded me of the power of grace and forgiveness. Charles Johnson, my father, showed me the importance of prayer and keeping the faith no matter the circumstances.
I work in a sewing factory. It’s hard, y’all. If I wrote about the difficulties, there wouldn’t be enough pages to contain it. I’ve had folks say insulting things like, “I bet you sit behind a desk with your feet propped up all day,” and “I wish all I had to do everyday was look important.” But I have WORKED in this business for 40 years. Yes, that’s right – 40 years. I was 12 years old when I started because my Dad came from a time where parents didn’t coddle children and thought my brother and I needed to learn to work and be productive. Dad didn’t care if we went into the sewing business or not, but he made sure we knew how to work. Dad was right, too.
I’m the older brother, so while my brother, Walt, was in college, I began learning how to run a sewing production line. Unfortunately, a little thing called the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) was passed in 1992 and the American sewing industry was evaporated in its wake. Our company somehow survived the initial collapse, but we found ourselves in 1998 struggling for work. My Dad’s famous saying is, “we can’t sew air,” so we needed some production to sew. Times got tight. Then they got tighter. Then we found ourselves struggling to meet payroll because we had very little work. There was worry and tension all inside that factory and team members were asking me daily, “Did we get any work today?” We had to keep answering that we were working on it, but truthfully, I was beginning to think we were doomed.
I had a wife and tiny baby Becca at home. How would I tell them I was going to lose my job if it were to happen? My Dad had worked so hard, and I found myself getting overwhelmed. It was feeling of heaviness on my chest because I worried for Dad, all our team members, and ultimately my own situation. Yes, I was young and could find another job, but my Dad would lose everything he had and 90 sewing operators would suddenly become unemployed.
At the end of the day in the factory, all the lights are turned off and it’s pitch black dark. One particular Monday during this drought all the lights were turned off and I was dragging around in the dark after shutdown. It was quiet and I looked around at the empty work bins and the other bins that were half full. What would we do? Where would we find work?
And then, I looked towards the front where my Dad’s office is located. There was light shining through the window in his office door, so I moved towards the front to see if he was in there. I was out in the dark, so he couldn’t see me. When I looked through that window, he was sitting at his desk. His Bible was open on his desktop. His head was bowed and his lips were moving. I stood there in the dark a few seconds watching him pray. As a young businessman, it’s exactly what I needed to see.
The next day I arrived in the parking lot the at the same time Dad drove up. I told him I saw him praying last night and I had been praying hard, too. He said, “If we don’t get any work, will you still have faith? No matter what happens we’ve still got to trust Him. But I believe that the God that parted the sea can certainly handle whether we get work or not. We are going to be just fine. I just know it.”
I was glad he was so confident because I sure wasn’t. We walked into the building together. This was during the age of fax machine, and our orders often came by fax. We both looked at the fax machine when we got inside only to see an empty tray. My heart sank. I got that same nervous feeling in my gut. My heart felt heavy as I headed out onto the sewing floor.
Minutes later, Judy, who handled all things faxed at that time, came running over to Dad and me talking about the work situation. Her face was lit up with a smile and her hand was full of paper.
“We’ve got orders!!!” Judy said. “The fax machine had run out of paper and so it didn’t print last night. When I put the paper in this morning, orders just started printing out!”
Dad took the orders in hand and began to add. Sport Haley, a popular golf line at the time, had just sent us 25,000 pants to be made as soon as possible! While everyone celebrated, I slipped off to the bathroom and cried. I ain’t ashamed to say it. Cried like a baby.
God filled that factory with work, and my Father filled a young me with covering your business in prayer. The Redwood tree showing the sprout how it’s done.
Take notice, young people. Take it from an old apparel factory worker. It’s great to plant trees, save the environment, and take deep breaths of clean air. It’s even better to find a real tree. A Jeremiah 17 tree. Climb it. Sit under its shade of wisdom. Enjoy its fruits so you can produce your own.
Take a deep breath and thank God for His trees.
