Trees, Flowers and Other Miracles

As I get older, I'm finding that there are still so many questions that I have not been able to answer. After a lifetime of searching for more knowledge, I'm finding only more questions, and very few real answers. I spent most of my life teaching and explaining many subjects, so it is an uncomfortable irony, indeed, that I now find it necessary to say, "I don't know"  - a lot.

This essay is about one of those things that can't be explained through scientific study - but it's OK - I don't feel alone - scientists, botanists and tree specialists don't know either. People of faith who believe in God don't need an explanation.

Join me in discussing a particular variety of tree called, Norfolk Island Pine. They are not really pine trees, but they are conifers that produce cones. There are several here on the Anna Maria Island. They are easy to spot. They are usually the tallest trees, towering over the palms and others. 

                                                                                

When they begin their growth they are perfectly shaped little Christmas trees. No matter how tall they get, the top remains that shape.

                                                                 

My curiosity has to do with those cones. The tree produces both male and female cones for reproduction of the tree. The seeds come from only the female cones. Questions arise immediately in my mind about pollination. Don't ask me how its done - I don't know. That's troublesome enough, but it is the seeds themselves, that are the real curiosity. 

Most of us are aware that every variety of seed bearing plant, tree or flower has its own way of spreading its seeds so that the species will survive. 

The weed we call Dandelion is cleverly designed to turn its flower petals into wispy little seeds suspended on a fluffy parachute. Somehow it knows about the wind and all of those cute little kids who will blow them off the stem, helping them to spread.

The Maple Tree has each of its seeds housed inside a half wing that knows how to fly to earth. It spins like a helicopter assuring it a wide range of dispersion. 

The annoying Sandspur weed puts each of its seeds inside a small covering with what seem to be the world's sharpest spines. The spine point is also equipped with a small barb at its tip. A passing sheep, cow or human being is easily hooked. We are an important part of the Sandspur's seed distribution process. After a stroll through the yard, many will have attached themselves to clothing, shoes and all. 

The Coconut Palm trees have that very big seed we call the hard-to-open coconut. It's designed to float in the salt water of the oceans. It can float for miles eventually finding a sandy beach where it can lie still long enough to establish a root.




Back to the Norfolk Island pine cones, when the cone breaks open, the individual seeds can be seen and examined. Where other seeds can fly, float or hook on, these seeds do it all! Look carefully. Each seed has a hook (you know why); it has those filmy wings on each side that it uses for flying; and its round boat-like bottom can float the seed for miles.


Questions that I find worth considering:

These Norfolk Island trees first appeared on an island off Australia (Norfolk Island) about 375 million years ago - and they are still around, just as originally designed, unchanged, no evolutionary versions have occurred. Originally designed?

Didn't these seeds need to know in advance that there would be an atmosphere, a gas, available to allow them to fly on? How did they learn about flying, floating and hooking?

Flowers appeared about 130 million years ago. It is still a mystery exactly when. When they did show up, they were each fully developed. Scientists claim that the flower fossil record shows that they arrived all at once. There wasn't enough time for any of them to develop a design through any evolutionary system. They had their reproductive and seed distribution methods all ready to go. Completely designed and ready to bloom and reproduce? What was that question about a chicken or the egg again?

The biggest question of all - How could the trees and flowers all know to design their seed distribution systems with animals and man as participants? Man and the animals wouldn't be around until 245 million years later!

                                             God only knows!

A Thanksgiving Awakening

    72 years ago, I learned to appreciate the importance of Thanksgiving Day.

    In the frozen mountains of North Korea, as a young Marine, I did some really deep thinking about God, country and life.

    In my mind, the war had been won. In only two months, the North Korean army that had invaded their neighbors in the South, had been defeated. Life for the South Korean people was about to go back to normal. We had taken our last important objective - the power plant at the Chosin Reservoir. 

    It was late November and we started looking forward to eating our first hot meal that was going to be trucked in to us. We settled back, relaxed and waited for new orders from D.C. It took a few weeks. 

    During that time, Chinese troops had entered the war. They moved large numbers of troops into positions all around us. My group of Marines soon found ourselves surrounded. Day and night Chinese attacks began.

    To make matters a little worse, they had cut off our main supply route. A Marine unit is designed to maintain itself only within a 20 mile penetration. Here we were 80 miles up in the mountains with only one road in and out. It took only one Chinese roadblock to stop any equipment or supply trucks heading up to our location. The Chinese commander declared that he would demoralize America by "exterminating" its strongest armed force, the U.S. Marine Corps.

    Well, it got really uncomfortable. With no supplies, we soon began to run out of ammo; the Corpsmen needed blood, morphine and other medical items for the wounded; and we didn't have any food.

    There were plenty of cans of food everywhere (rations), but all of them were frozen solid and of no use. Thankfully, some of the cans of rations had a solid disc of cocoa powder and two cookies. We filled our pockets with those. Water to drink was a problem. We had thrown away our canteens. They were of no use up in that cold place. The water in them had frozen and the ice broke the canteens apart. Our standard meal became cookies and snow. BTW, It takes a lot of snow to get a few drops of water.

Things looked pretty grim for us. The chaplains were busy preparing the men for what seemed inevitable. That's when I did some heavy praying. "Please God, don't let me get killed." "Please God, don't let me be captured." I was placing quite a lot of demands on God. I really hadn't learned how to pray.

Right in the middle of all that, planes from the Air Force started dropping in supplies by parachutes to keep us going. Part of the drop was a box of cooked turkey! I didn't realize that Thanksgiving Day had arrived.

The food tasted great, but it had to be eaten very fast before it was completely frozen. I had a drumstick that provided me with only a few bites before it became a Popsicle. Despite that, it was good to have food again. Many of the guys were saying grace, a prayer of gratitude, like we did at home over meals. I realized, at that point, that there was much more than food to be grateful for. That was when I finally learned how to pray. 

Whether it is before a meal or any time I think about it, my prayer of Thanksgiving has become a permanent part of my life.

Thank you, God for giving me life; Thank you for my loving family and friends; Thank you for the beauty you give me to enjoy - the palm trees, the beautiful flowers, the warm, clear water of the Gulf; Thank you for forgiving me when I thought that praying was about what I wanted from you.