A good tree cannot bear bad fruit.
All my grandchildren, on both the East and West coasts, started school yesterday. The photos I received of them before school showed smiling and excited faces, unmasked and happy, eager to go back into their classrooms. It was a heartwarming sight.
The start of the schoolyear always makes me think of life's turning wheel. The shorter days tell us summer is waning. The holiday season ahead beckons us to move forward, towards the year's end. Everyone is another year older. And there is a hopefulness that the next cycle about to unfold will somehow be better.
My grandkids are too young to realize the difficulties of our nation's current challenges. I worry for their futures. After I'm gone, what kind of country will they be called upon to struggle in? I remind myself that each of them will be a force for good, and we need that now more than ever. I suppose every generation of grandparents has felt the same way.
My grandchildren remind me of the good fruit parable. Life's wheel turns; the harvest comes. I find it comforting to know that the good trees will always grow.
