Our Mark by Barry Hughes

This image is the first image I encounter each morning as I walk out of my garage because it is found in the neighboring yard. Over the years since moving to the neighborhood I watched the demise of the tree that once stood proud and tall on this spot.

It was not a sudden thing at all. Somewhere along the way this tree just began to fall apart. With each high wind, a branch would fall. As each storm blew through, large limbs came down. Each time the debris was removed and the tree was trimmed, but still the process continued. Each year the losses became greater until large sections of the mighty tree would come crashing down, often with no storm prompting the event. Finally, the homeowner had to give up the fight, and the tree. The view on our block has never been the same, but in my mind’s eye I can still see that mighty tree. Each day it is a reminder that we, too, will leave a mark behind us when our time is finished. I wonder what mine will be?

I have such marks and reminders in my life of some once towering figures. Parents who taught me to love and believe and serve. An early mentor who inspired me to pursue my calling. Friends whose companionship made any hardship bearable and every day a joy. All gone, yet I see the mark of their life in mine every day just as surely as I see the mark of the tree as I leave my garage. And, like the tree, through the mark they left behind I can still see them in all their past fullness and beauty.

These people who left such beautiful marks in the world and in my life did not think of their lives in that way at all. They just got up each morning and lived their lives true to their values and with an eye to the needs of those around them. They weren’t trying to be towering figures; they were trying to be faithful, loving, grateful people. That is what made them who they were. That is what left such a mark in my life. That is what made such a difference.

The mark we leave behind in the lives of others isn’t determined at the end of our journey. The mark we leave behind is written every day, every year, every step along the way. I wonder what my mark might be? I know what I’d like it to be.

Peace.