Amazing Life

For atheists, death comes and then there is nothing.  Nothing.

God has created this earth and it is beautiful.  The flowers, trees, living things -- it is beautiful.  And His creation -- man -- is beautiful.  He has lavished upon us so much goodness, so much to appreciate.  Why would God create us only to let us die to nothingness?

Even if you don't believe in God -- if you are an atheist -- and you look around you at all of this beauty, why would it exist, why would we exist if it was for nothing?

One day a brilliant man was approached by a billionaire who liked to play with his money.  He told the man that he had a proposition for him.  He wanted him to make a tree.  The tree would have to be strong enough to withstand winds of 75 mph at least.  It would have to be alive, with sap running through it during the spring and into the fall.  It would have to get leaves in the spring, bright green leaves that would use photosynthesis to keep the tree going.  In the fall, when the sun had lost some of its strength, the tree would stop creating the green, and in its absence, the leaves would become orange, red, and ochre.  The sap would stop running, and the tree would go into a kind of hibernation but remain alive even when the temperatures would plummet to below zero.

The billionaire said that the man could have any sum of money he needed, any laboratory in the world, any help from scientists or theorists.  He could have as long as he wanted to do the work. 

The brilliant man brought in scientists and theorists and created an impressive lab that could do state-of-the-art work.  They created a think tank and had meetings.  Then they went into the lab and labored for ten hours a day. 

Three years later, they unveiled their creation for the billionaire on a piece of property near a park.  The "tree" was made of cement-like material that was anchored into the ground much like a building built on less steady soil.  The outer surface of the "tree" was covered with mosses and lichens and other growing things that got their water from a series of pipes embedded in the concrete.  The leaves came out of some of the vines growing on the tree.

The billionaire asked where they got the water for the pipes.

"From the ground.  There's a pump," they responded.

"And, if I turn off the pump, then what?" he asked.

"Um, well, the mosses and lichens and plants will probably die after a while," they said.

"So, then.  You did not really create a tree, did you?" he asked.

"No, we could not.  We couldn't duplicate a tree.  We tried so hard and we spent so much money, but we really never could do it as you asked," they admitted. "We have failed."

As the billionaire walked to his awaiting limousine, he saw a little boy on the edge of the park digging with a spoon.  He went over to him.

"What are you doing, son?" he asked.

"We read about Johnny Appleseed in school this week.  See this acorn here?  This will become a tree," the boy answered, flashing a brilliant smile.

Lenten quote:

"I give spiritual consolation in prayer, now in one way, now in another. But it is not my intention that the soul should receive this consolation foolishly, paying more attention to the gift than to me."  Dialogue 68 - St. Catherine of Siena