Several years ago, my husband hoisted a ladder into the back of his pickup truck and strung brightly colored lights around the tree in our front yard. They gave the place a festive look, but it was an arduous task, and we decided to leave the lights in place for the following year.
When the holiday rolled around a year later, however, we discovered that all the bulbs had been removed, hacked off at the base with only raw wires in place. We didn’t solve the mystery until that summer when we chopped down a pine tree along the edge of the driveway and discovered a squirrel’s nest hidden among the branches. The missing bulbs filled the nest to overflowing.
I thought of that episode during an autumn walk along a wooded path covered with acorns—so many that they rained down on our heads as we passed.
The squirrels in our yard—like so many of us—had been lured by sparkle and glitz into thinking that would nourish them. In the end, those purloined bulbs proved no satisfaction at all. If the squirrels had relied on them for food, they would have suffered cuts from shards of glass in their attempts to enjoy their spoils and ultimately starved to death. And yet here in this woods—as in our own yard—lay hundreds of ordinary acorns, enough to feed an army of squirrels.
It seems too often we seek out shiny cars, dazzling jewelry, fancy homes and clothes in our quest for joy that they never bring. And yet before us lie hundreds of opportunities to make a difference in our own lives and those of others, from simple acts of kindness to life-changing actions that bring happiness and fulfillment. A child’s delight at having someone read a new book, a mother’s grateful smile for an hour to herself, a nursing home resident’s happiness to have a visitor, a volunteer’s pleasure at being able to spend time with someone who shares a similar interest. That is where we will find nourishment for the soul.