Photo ©2026 by Shelley Schurch
Commentary ©2026 by Maylan Schurch
Friday, May 15, 2026
During my elementary school years I lived on a little farm which had two large cottonwood trees between our house and our barn. Every spring, those cottonwoods would sprout seed pods, which would then burst and send out thousands and thousands of these little puffballs like the one you see in this photo, which Shelley snapped of my hand this past Wednesday.
Actually, earlier that same day I had spotted the first cottonwood seed I’d seen this year. It was drifting past me, so I reached out and grabbed it. It was smaller than the one you see above, but its seed was surrounded by the same gauzy cotton-like substance. Once I had it in my fist, I glanced around me to see if I could spot a cottonwood tree, and there were none in sight.
This means that a cottonwood somewhere had ejected that little puffball, and the wind had carried it to where I was, in the hopes that a new tree would be created. That’s called influence. The original tree would never “meet” the new tree, but the powerful seed, if given the right care, would grow.
A few minutes ago I was on a phone call with a man who told me that a short while before her death, his wife had purchased a new Bible, and had gone through and underlined her favorite verses. When she died, the man eventually gave her Bible away, and he learned that someone is now reading those verses when times of depression come.
Influence. God created cottonwood trees to spread their influence, and has created you to share yours. For four Bible texts on how to do this, click the link just below: