A FINAL WORD

The Talmud tells of the legendary Honi HaMa'agel, Honi the Circle Maker. One day, Honi happened upon an old man planting a carob tree. Honi asked how long it would take for the tree to bear fruit. "Seventy years," the man replied. Honi then asked if the man expected to partake of the fruit of the tree he was planting. The old man responded, "I enjoyed the fruits of trees planted by my parents and grandparents. Even as they planted for me, so do I plant for my children."

Planting is a lot of what parenting is about. Much of what we do day after day has no immediate or obvious effect, yet the influence of our small, everyday interactions with our children -- the seeds we plant -- will bear fruit far into the future.