Photo and Commentary ©2026 by Maylan Schurch
Friday, April 24, 2026
What’s pictured in the photo above probably has no meaning to you. In fact, the color of the little item reclining on a page of my pocket notebook doesn’t really come through clearly. It looks black, but it’s really a very dark green. And it’s nearly an inch long.
If, like us, you make a practice of putting up and decorating a medium-sized artificial Christmas tree each year, a familiar look may be coming into your eyes. Yes, this is a solitary fake needle from our tree, and even though we finally carry the de-decorated tree as carefully as possible back to the garage, and even though we think we’ve vacuumed up all the detritus, we still find these needles throughout the year, in unexpected places.
When I find one, I gnash my teeth and fling it into the trash, as I did with this one after I snapped the photo. Yet I know that when the garbage truck arrives, and transports this needle to wherever they take it, it will not decay or dissolve until a lot of heat is applied to it.
Actually, this was the first such needle I’ve discovered in several week, so maybe we’re gaining ground on them. But I suppose what I should do, as my fingers hover above the trash can, is thank the Lord for the season it represents, and for the truly eternal green of Eden’s meadows.
Heaven is a real place, after all, far more than the artifice which surrounds us now. Why not enjoy a preview of that happy place by clicking the link just below?