Several years ago on my birthday, friends gave me the kind of gift that truly keeps on giving —a dwarf Bearss lime tree. It came in a large, beautiful clay pot that has graced our patio and produced juicy limes, that for almost a decade have added zing and zest to a variety of drinks and meals.
Sadly, over the past year or so, likely due to my lack of gardening know-how, my Bearss lime tree seemed to be dead or dying. I tried pruning, fertilizing and watering, but alas, my efforts were fruitless. A couple of months ago, I finally gave up and cut the tree down to a bare stump in preparation for removing the plant from its pot and starting over with something else. However, within a few days of my drastic —should I say, fatal, action —a small green shoot appeared next to the dead stump. At first, I assumed it was a weed, but it now appears to be a new Bearss lime sapling. In a few weeks, the dead stump has disappeared behind a small, verdant forest of new growth. Whether my lime tree will recover and bear delicious limes again remains to be seen. But the sight of this luxurious new growth from something I had assumed was dead, has been a beautiful, humbling reminder—while death and decay are undeniable in this fallen world—life is at work too, often in ways not immediately obvious to my eyes or my intellect.
