Pecans and Pears

The hurricane stripped the leaves from the pecan tree.  It was an instant fall – green leaves one day, bare branches the next.  
But now, three weeks later, the tree has sprouted new leaves.  And the Bradford pears are blooming all over the place.  It looks like spring, not October.

Stress to a tree can prompt out-of-season budding or flowering.  The trees are using a lot of energy to flower, trying to produce fruit and foliage after a traumatic event.  That is the botanical explanation.  But I think of it is a sign of healing. 

After trauma, when things have been stripped away, there is a stubborn energy that can emerge.  In the face of devastation, new life can appear, like spring leaves in October.  There is a resilience and a will to flourish built into nature, and that includes human nature, too.  

Those who just rebuilt from Matthew are physically and spiritually exhausted. Like the pecan tree, they have been stripped bare.  Can they continue to grow and flourish where they have put down roots all their lives? Some have already started, their efforts popping out like little green leaves.  For others, though, this has been one flood too many.  May they find healing and renewal wherever they are transplanted.