Article November 7, 1983 Issue

A lesson on devotion

THOMAS O. POYSER

On a bookshelf in my office a small frame holds a tiny leaf. The leaf is a reminder of an important lesson.

For some years my work required a great deal of automobile travel. And one fall, my wife and I started out on a wide-ranging trip through the western part of the United States. While we were packing the car, I noticed a leaf stuck under the chrome molding on one side of the car. My first inclination was to brush it off, but then the thought came: "Oh, well, it will drop off soon."

I had something to learn! For did that little leaf unloose its hold as we drove through desert sandstorms, torrential rains, sleet, blizzards, gusty winds, hot sun, and many car washes? No way! As we pulled into our driveway, some three months and 15,000 miles after the start of our journey, there was the leaf, still securely with us. So I lifted it from its traveling place and gave it a new resting place in a picture frame. Many times since that trip of years ago, I have thought, "Ah, little leaf, if you could think and talk, what story would you tell, what lesson would you teach?"

Send a comment to the editors

NEXT IN THIS ISSUE

Poem

"Delight thyself also in the Lord"