Up To Speed: Passing the Baton

Almost 70 degrees out Lovely wind. Sunny April 27, 2021

I watched my grandson Matthew last week run three races at a track meet in Gobles with his mother Kathryn, my youngest child. Two were solo races he won. Handily! And the third race was a relay run with his three team mates. Which they won handily also.

This afternoon, sitting in the sun and feeling the wind enveloping me, I said to myself words I’ve said many times. In so many ways.

“Will someone please take the baton from me! I’m tired and can’t carry this any longer.”

Then it hit me, as THEY SAY. I can’t pass The Baton on to someone who isn’t up to speed! What I watched last Thursday in Gobles with my daughter. Of each team mate getting up to speed so they could take the baton without momentum being lost.

Which obviously forced me to clarify my statement. The Baton I was given long ago wasn’t a baton made of dead wood. But a Living Tree instead! With many branches full of fruit. Fruit I’ve been privileged to be nourished by all my life.

But I’m old now. I can no longer take proper care of this Tree. I can no longer prune the dead and unproductive limbs. Nor have I been able to distribute the delicious and beneficial fruit to others. Too foreign to them. Afraid to take even a bite. Except for a few brave souls. Who just love the fruit of “MY” Tree.

Not My Tree. I don’t own Her. I find myself the care-taker. Not owner. Realizing that I was up to speed as a young child. Why I found myself given this Living Baton. That I had no clue of what It was. Back then. But now, so clear.

The Tree of Life is there are for all of us. But we need first to get up to speed. To take The Living Baton and eat Her Fruit.