Betsy McMillan

Betsy McMillan, The Remarkable GirlBy David W. McMillan

ONCE UPON A TIME IN A LAND WHERE PEOPLE NEVER WALKED LIVED A FAMILY OF TREES. THIS FAMILY WAS A FOREST. LIKE ALL SPIRITUAL FAMILIES, THEY WORSHIPPED GOD. TO THE TREES, GOD HAD THREE PARTS: THE EARTH, IN WHOM THEY LIVED AND WORKED AND HAD THEIR BEING; THE LIGHT THAT SHINED ON THEM AND MADE THEIR LEAVES GREEN; THE WIND, THAT BECAME THE LANGUAGE THEY USED TO SPEAK TO ONE ANOTHER. IT RUSTLED THEIR LEAVES, MAKING NOISE THE TREES USED FOR WORDS. IT BLEW THEIR BRANCHES, CREATING POSES THAT SHOWED THEIR FEELINGS FOR ONE ANOTHER.

THE TREES SPENT THEIR DAYS GROWING DEEP ROOTS INTO THE GROUND AND STANDING TALL. THEIR BRANCHES PROVIDED HOMES FOR BIRDS AND SQUIRRELS, THEIR ROOTS, HOMES TO CHIPMUNKS AND RABBITS, THEIR LIMBS, NUTS AND FRUIT FOR THE ANIMALS. THEY LOVED THEIR ROLE OF PROVIDING SHELTER AND FOOD FOR THE FOREST COMMUNITY.

It was winter in the forest. the ground was spotted with blankets of snow in amongst the trees. the time For seed burrowing was past. One family of pine trees shared a place on the hill with their relatives and extended family. The mother and father pine tree were beginning to show their age. The father’s top was bare and the mother’s bottom limbs had begun to droop. They had sewn seeds earlier in their marriage and had three handsome boy trees. They loved their boys but they had always hoped for a girl.

Perhaps on purpose or perhaps accidentally the mother pine tree released another seed on this day. It fell down on the snow. The snow covered the ground so that it was hard to tell whether or not the ground was soft dirt or hard rock. Gravity pulled the seed in the ground. the tip of the seed felt the wet sands and began to sprout roots.

The seasons changed. The new crop of seedlings came up as the sun warmed spring into summer. The place where the seed fell betrayed no beginnings of life. But late in that summer a twig pushed out of the sandy soil and a few short pine needles sprouted from the twig. The new seedling did not have as many green needles as most seedlings. Wise men in the forest told the parents, “the ground is bad. the soil has too much sand to hold water well. There are not enough needles and they are too short. This tree is defective. We will send the deer herd through to trample the seedling so that you don’t have to be burdened with caring and protecting this tree.”

                “On no,” gasped the mother pine tree.

                “Hell, no,” said the father pine tree. “That’s not how this family does things. This is our child we will protect and care for her in just the same way we have for our three boys and you will see. She will become a remarkable girl. You will see.”

The seedling had few needles to catch the sunlight. The sand didn’t hold water for her roots like the red clay that her brother’s and parent’s roots had for soil. The baby tree had little appetite. Everyone was worried that she wouldn’t get enough nourishment.

So this father tree went to work. He collected water from the dew and the rain. He had the squirrels dig a water collection ditch around the little girl pine tree. The mother marshaled these resources. She would get help from her sons. The eldest son would drop water in the trough around her. The middle son would lean back to give her more sunlight. The youngest son would join his mother in making faces and blowing songs so that the baby pine tree would laugh and open her roots to the water and move her needles to catch more light.

For a time she didn’t seem to be gaining much strength and then suddenly she began to thrive. The first words she formed with her limbs were aimed at her youngest brother. Her development was framed by the young girl seedling next to her. They were the same age. as they grew the other girl seemed to be ahead of the slower growing pine tree. but even though she grew slower, she did grow.

The two girl pine trees became fast friends. even though the slower growing girl seemed behind, she was clearly the one in charge. She would tell the other girl pine tree what they would play, when they would stop and when they would drink. They played battle, a game with leaves, heart leaves, club leaves, spade leaves and diamond leaves. Each leaf had a number value that could range from ace to two. people were surprised that the slower growing girl could play this game but she could.

Tree conversations were overheard about this game playing. “I never saw a slow growing short needled pine playing that game before. Isn’t she amazing.”

“Oh I’m not impressed. It’s just a game and she’s not very good. she cheats to win.”

While the other girl learned to read the signs of the earth quicker than the slower growing tree, the mother worked everyday with her daughter, with one educational drill after another until the slower growing girl did learn. Sometimes her brothers would help. Sometimes friends and relatives would help. It seemed that all the trees in the forest knew what this pine tree family was trying to do. everybody wanted to help.

Trees commented about this too.

“Isn’t she amazing. i didn’t know a slow growing short needle pine tree could learn the signs of the forest.”

“Oh, that’s no big deal she doesn’t understand what she’s learning. it’s a waste of time.”

Her mother was an accomplished musician. She could play the leaves, making them sing beautiful music. a friend of her mother’s agreed to teach the slow growing girl how to play the leaves. Some didn’t think she could learn this because her needles would be too short, but she did. oh, she wasn’t the best leaf player in the forest, but she could play a tune. and she loved music.  trees could be heard saying,               

“I have never heard a slow growing short needle pine make music before. I didn’t know they could do that.”                
“So what. She’s really not very good. She often misses the notes.” Every Sunday the trees leaned together to create a sanctuary. The trees that were musically talented would put their limbs together so that the wind blew through their leaves with great beauty and harmony. The music they created was an important part of a weekly worship service. Every Sunday that the trees leaned together they would sing the same hymn*.

"IMMORTAL, INVISIBLE, GOD ONLY WISE, GOD OF THE SPARROW, GOD OF THE WHALE                                                WE BLOSSOM AND FLOURISH RICH WITH NEW LIFE THEN WITHER AND PERISH, BUT NAUGHT CHANGES THEE. GOD OF EARTHQUAKE, GOD OF STORM GOD OF RAINBOWS, GOD OF MOONLIGHT. YOU MAKE PAIN, GRIEF AND SORROW NURTURE NEW LIFE. ALL FEAR AND SHAME ARE REDEEMED BY GOD'S LOVE. AMEN."

The slower growing tree became good enough at music that she was asked to sing in the choir. She pulled her limbs up next to her mother’s every week. She sang the hymn with the rest. this was her proudest moment. She knew she wasn’t the best musician, but she was so happy to be asked to be a part of the choir.

TREES NOTICED THIS TOO. ONE SAID, “ISN’T SHE REMARKABLE. SHE CAN SING IN the CHOIR. I THINK THAT’S WONDERFUL.”

“OH I DON’T. HER WIND ISN’T THAT GOOD. SHE SHOULDN’T SING IN the CHOIR. HER NOISES DETRACT FROM THE HARMONY.”

Her youngest brother like others in the tree family worried about her. He would ask his father. “Why is my sister slow growing? Why are her needles short? Why is her soil sandy?” His father would always answer. “I don’t know. I have wood in my trunk.”  

So he would ask his mother. “Mother, why is my sister growing slow? Why are her needles short? Why is her soil sandy?”                

“That’s how god made her,” the mother pine tree answered.               

“It doesn’t seem fair. Why did god make her like that?” the brother pine tree asked.                

“God has a purpose for everything he makes,” the mother pine tree answered.                

“What is god’s purpose for my sister?” the brother pine tree asked.                

“I’m not sure,” the mother pine tree answered. “Now no more questions.”

Somehow things with the slower growing pine tree never seemed right to her brother. Hh she was remarkable, he agreed. She was the strongest willed, most determined, most talented (in that order) short leafed pine tree most had ever known.

“I want to be like all the other normal trees,” she would say. “I want a job. I want to work with everybody else.”               

“Oh, you can’t do that,” the forest organizers would answer. “You belong with other trees with special needs.”                

“I want to work,” she would shout angrily, “like the other trees. I don’t want to be a tree doctor or a tree organizer, but I could be a leaf blower and clean the forest floor. I could do that.”

Finally, a tree organizer gave her a chance at blowing leaves and she did well enough at her job. But one day, she made a mistake. She blew the leaves the wrong way. She had a new job with little patience and she was fired. But she persisted.”.

“I can work,” she said. “I’m sorry I blew the wrong way. give me another chance.” But the pattern repeated itself. She would do well until she got a new boss who didn’t know how to work with her and she would be let go. Many trees in the forest were amazed she could work at all.         

“Isn’t she remarkable,” they would say. “I never saw a slow-growing short needle pine tree working in the forest before. Look what she can do.”

And the answer would come, “Oh she shouldn’t be there. She doesn’t belong in that job. I feel sorry for those trees she works with.”

When she lost her job, she was always hurt. It pained her brother to see her hurt. He could never quite figure out her purpose. He knew one of god’s purposes for him though. That was to care for his sister. and oh how hard sometimes it was for him to love her. So hard, in fact, that he wondered when god would relieve him of this burden. In addition to the job his family gave him of taking care of his sister, he had the job of helping trees regain their dignity when they dropped a limb or lost a bird family. So you would think he would be good at patiently loving and caring for his sister. But nothing could be further from the truth. No tree could find the end of his patience so quickly as his sister. No tree could give him an exasperating trial like his sister. No tree could test his capacity for love like his sister. As the brother and sister reached middle age, they had lost a brother and their parents. The other brother pine tree was doing his best to bring a new generation of pine trees into the family. The slow growing sister and her caretaker brother had each other and that’s all the close family they had. Suddenly it seemed, but it really wasn’t sudden, the sister pine tree began to have difficulty absorbing water in her roots. Her wood and bark began to shrink. and she died. The brother pine tree felt very alone. The Sunday after she died he went with his pine tree community to worship god. They sang the same hymn.

"IMMORTAL, INVISIBLE, GOD ONLY WISE, GOD OF THE SPARROW, GOD OF THE WHALE WE BLOSSOM AND FLOURISH RICH WITH NEW LIFE THEN WITHER AND PERISH, BUT NAUGHT CHANGES THEE. GOD OF EARTHQUAKE, GOD OF STORM GOD OF RAINBOWS, GOD OF MOONLIGHT. YOU MAKE PAIN, GRIEF AND SORROW NURTURE NEW LIFE. ALL FEAR AND SHAME ARE REDEEMED BY GOD'S LOVE. AMEN."

As he prayed and worshiped he began to understand one of god’s purposes for his sister’s life. She taught him patience and tolerance. She expanded his heart and taught him to love. He felt so strange. He had thought her death might bring relief, but it didn’t. He missed her. He had loved her more deeply than he had imagined. Though he complained often, long and loud, he loved the burden of caring much like his grandfather tree told him, “A mule likes pulling a log in the forest.” He missed her. He missed the opportunity to give and to care, to be exasperated about a puzzle she presented him that he couldn’t solve.

She challenged him to grow and to learn. Her challenges expanded his character. Though the tree community failed in the long run to find her a place where she could contribute. Her drive created a place for short needle pines that followed her. One of god’s purposes may have been to teach the tree community that slow-growing short needle pines with sandy soil had things to contribute, too. Finding places for them to work ennobled the forest and those who appreciated their contributions. At her funeral, a choir sang for her, fellow workers testified about how she touched them, opened their hearts, and changed their lives.

She gave honor to those who accepted her and challenged those who could not. For her brother, one of god’s purposes for his sister’s life was to teach him that loving is a gift that you give yourself. having someone to care for pulls compassion through the heart, making the heart bigger, creating more room for joy. loving his sister was a gift god gave him, a privilege that he will miss. for many reasons his father’s prediction had come true. She was a remarkable girl!