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LIKE DEBORAH'S DAD
As the temperature drops and the ground is covered in a blanket of snow
the animals who frequent our woods looking for food know exactly where to go.
Their a diverse groups of birds who come to our feeders…
where we do our best to supplement their basis needs
by keeping our feeders filled with a variety of their favorite seeds.
And the birds too big for our feeders…we find them gathered round…
enjoying breakfast, lunch or dinner from the seeds we sprinkle on the ground.
The deer who occasionally wander through our yard…usually in the early morn…
are happy when they discover we’ve left them a smattering of corn.
We feed the animals…when the weather is good
and especially when the winter weather turns bad…
and when I see the gratitude on their faces…I think about Deborah’s dad.
Her dad was a master gardener…there wasn’t anything about plants he didn’t know.
Consequently, when it came to gardening, there wasn’t anything he couldn’t grow.
Watching him in his garden…was a magical sight to see…
and though my thumb will never be as green an his…
I remember one piece of wisdom he passed along to me.
He was a gentle, quiet man…but I’ll always remember these words…
“When you plant a garden,” he told me,
“alway plant a little extra for the rabbits and the birds.”
That one sentence encapsulated the type of man he was…
His tender heart…to the world everyday he’d bring…
He was kind, generous, loving, accepting and giving to everyone and everything.
So when we feed the deer and the birds in winter…in the weather good or bad
we’re not just feeding the animals…we’re paying tribute to Deborah’s dad.
And when I think of the state of the world…and sometimes feel dejected, hopeless and sad
I wish those leaders who are causing this sorrow…
were a a lot more like Deborah’s dad.
