Episode 10: Living with Purpose
The audio and video versions of this episode can be found at the bottom of this blog post.
I saw this leaf lying alone on the pavement during a recent morning walk. Autumn is in the air and the trees have begun to let loose the leaves they birthed just months ago. Before long, bare branches will reveal themselves as the trees await the spring when they will bear new leaves again.
As I considered this leaf, I thought about its purpose. When sun and water were plentiful, the tree produced this leaf. The leaf took in the minerals and moisture provided by the nourishing tree, mixed in a little sunlight and carbon dioxide, and created the fuel necessary for the tree to grow and stay healthy. The leaf’s efforts were compounded with those of other leaves produced by the tree, and together they were able to sustain the tree through spring and summer and into fall, until the sun’s rays weakened, the days grew shorter, and the leaves could no longer produce their life-sustaining energy. The leaf then died having fulfilled its purpose, ensuring that the tree would be well-prepared for the coming winter and ready to bear new leaves come spring.
This leaf was one of the first to drop from the tree, its life over after a lifetime well-spent just doing what a leaf does—sustaining the tree. This made me think of our lives as we live them.
People are like the leaves of a great tree, the tree of humanity. When we come into being, we are nurtured to adulthood by others who are already mature parts of the whole. When we live our lives in a way that sustains the whole, we benefit all by ensuring that when we die, having fulfilled our purpose, the next generation will be birthed in a healthy, nourishing environment.
We need not worry about the other leaves (people) and how they go about managing their own lives; we only need to make sure that we are doing the most with our own lives. A tree cannot be sustained by leaves that do not thrive and leaves cannot be sustained by a tree that does not thrive—they nourish each other. When we take care of the whole, we take care of each other. Likewise, when we take care of each other, we make the whole world a better place.
