We have already won! Please read.
Remember where we came from folks. A year and a half ago, we were handed a seed. The promise of that seed brought instant gratification as multitudes of people gathered around the dry earth waiting for the copper morsels to spring from the dust. As time passed, and the earth remained bare, the crowd became very impatient and hostile and began to disperse. Nevertheless, the caretakers of this seedling remained excited and confident, watering it daily, always giving encouragement to those who remained.
At last, the day was upon us. The day our "baby" would reveal itself to the world. We gathered in close to get a glimpse of the copper sheen springing from the earth. To our surprise, a tiny, painfully normal-looking sapling broke the surface. As the majority of onlookers cursed the sapling, and stomped off in a huff, the caretakers smiled with pride as they so delicately cared for their new creation.
Time passed as it tends to leaving a handful of onlookers to observe the slow but steady growth of the sapling. Unbeknownst and unrecognized by most of the true faithful, the hostile environment was beginning to soften. The scorching sun was thwarted by the overhanging branches, and the hard ground was overrun with a soft carpet of grass. Our sapling was becoming a tree.
In our new shaded comfort, something began to happen even more mysterious and magical than the emergence of copper fruit. We became friends. We became a family. We have shared births. We have shared deaths. We have laughed and cried together. We have shared in an incredible journey and have all become better people for it.
From our vantage, we can now see the small copper gleam coming from the virgin harvest. The shine will soon reveal itself to the world. And as the masses once again rush in to view and partake in the harvest, we rest under the shade knowing that firstfruits are ours. We have endured! We have run the race to win and we have won...in countless ways!
Jeff P.
