The Ballestero Blog

Your Leaves Will Grow Back!

“Honey, I don’t want to live anymore! I don’t feel like I’m trusting God, taking my heart medicine! I just want to go home and be with my darling!” My Mom confided to me.

My Mother, Content Ballestero had spent her life encouraging and blessing others. As her oldest child and only son, I had never known Mom to be anything but upbeat. One of our phone conversations, a few months after Dad’s passing in 1994, took a downturn. Mom was not sounding like her normal self. It caught me off guard.

I sat in my living room, 2,400 miles away feeling quite helpless. I had never been in this position before. What do I say? How do I respond to her? Sometimes I hated being a preacher, because you’re supposed to know what to say at all times. I don’t feel gifted in that department. I prayed silently that the Lord would give me words to speak to her.

“Mama,” I said, “Let’s talk about these things one at a time, OK?”

She agreed.

“Number 1, Why do you say you are not trusting God when you take your heart medicine? When you needed glasses to help your vision, you went to the Eye Doctor. You wear glasses. Why don’t you feel you’re not trusting God when you’re wearing glasses?

“You went to the Dentist and got false teeth, you didn’t say anything about trusting God, you just did what you had to do.” I reminded her.

“Oh honey, thank you!” She murmured.

“Number 2,” I continued, “If you want to ‘go home’ and be with Daddy, and you feel that God is done with you here, then go out into the backyard, find you the biggest old bucket you can find, and kick that sucker as hard as you can kick it.”

I knew that would shock her. Her response was that she needed that and she chuckled and thanked me again.

“Number 3, the Bible says we’re like trees planted by the river. (Psa. 1:3 “And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water…)

“Mom, we’ve lived many years in Indiana, and watched the trees go through the four seasons. The trees bud, green leaves appear, they turn brown in the fall, and then they fall off and the tree becomes bare in the winter.

The Four Seasons Of A Tree

“But just because the leaves fall off, doesn’t mean the squirrels have to move to another tree. Just because the leaves have fallen off doesn’t mean the birds will move their nests to another tree. The birds and the squirrels stay in the same tree. The leaves always grow back. You’re leaves will grow back too, Mom!”

“Do the ladies and girls in the church still come up to you and ask questions, or ask advice or request prayer?

“Yes, almost every service.”

“Do you still get invitations to speak at Ladies Meetings? “

“All the time!”

“Well Mom, you may feel like your leaves are all gone, but the birds haven’t flown off. The squirrels haven’t changed trees. You’re still invited places and you’re still needed. Your leaves will grow back, Mom!”

“Oh son,” She exclaimed, “You are so wise!”

“No Mom, kids are like little piggy banks. When they are little, parents make deposits of information into them. Then sometimes when they get older, they don’t trust their own judgment like they use to. Then they ask their child questions, and what their child does, is let them reach into that piggy bank and make a withdrawal of information. What I’m telling you today, is just stuff that you put into me years ago. Today Mom, you’re just making a little withdrawal”

After she blew her nose, I heard her say, “Thank you son, I love you so much!”