Best Friends and Evergreens

The tale of the Patrick Pine will be a part of our family's lore forever.  Indeed, it is a fantastic story, but for another day.  For now, a lesson of friendships and evergreens.

"Justin, are you finished with your homework?" I asked, as he bounded down the stairs and opened the door.

"No."

"Then you need to sit down at the table and finish it," I said.

"I will.  I just need to find out what's wrong with Ethan.  He just ran out the back door."

I had, in fact, heard the back door open and close but paid it little attention as I assumed no one had left the house, so soft were the exiter's footfalls.  Justin returned a moment later and headed back to the kitchen table. 

"Well?" I asked, expectantly.

"Oh.  He said something about a tree," Justin reported.  "He just will not accept that his tree is dead."

I was saddened by these words.  The tree was everything to him - a gift from a friend, now departed, representing everything that was right in his world.  Ethan had sprinted out of the house, in a mild panic, just as he had done each day since our return from Sunriver.   His mission was to give his tree, the Patrick Pine, every ounce of attention and care that he could muster, no matter how futile the effort.

"If I were him, I wouldn't accept it either," I replied.  "If my best friend, that I had had nearly my entire life, moved two states away - and all that he had left behind for me to remember him with was a pine tree - I wouldn't let it go either."

As the silence that followed my statement filled the room, a voice in the back of my head reminded me that I too was facing a similar prospect, though doubtful I would be as fortunate to have a pine tree to look after.

"I have only had two best friends in my lifetime," I continued.

I could see Justin giving careful consideration to my words.   No doubt he suspected that, for a man of my advanced age, to have only had two best friends was very unusual.   After all, had I not been personally acquainted with Moses?

The first one came into my life in the sixth grade, only to leave, rather quickly, in the tenth.  Unfortunately, I let our friendship go without a fight.  It was a very hard lesson to learn and I will not make that mistake a second time.

"I wouldn't give up on it either," I said, again, of the tree.

I didn't know how to finish that thought.  Secretly, I knew Ethan's greatest fear - if the tree died, Patrick would no longer be his friend.  Tears began to well up in my eyes as thoughts of my own best friend and Ethan's heartache over his dying tree passed across my mind, so I turned and walked away.

Ethan, have no fear - rest your mind and your heart.  God will not give you more than he knows you can handle.  Like an evergreen tree, your friendship with Patrick is hearty - able to withstand the harsh extremes and tough times but ready to flourish when the time is right.  Your friendship will endure even if the symbol that represents it does not.

Now, put down the watering can and go call Patrick.

- 4 October 2012