Seventy Years
A Meditation by Rev. Cameron Trimble
“Just as my ancestors planted for me, I too am planting for my descendants.” —Babylonian Talmud, Taanit 23a
The Babylonian Talmud tells a story about Honi HaMe’aggel, a Jewish sage sometimes called Honi, the Circle Maker.1
One day, Honi was walking along a road when he saw a man planting a carob tree.
“How long will it take this tree to bear fruit?” Honi asked.
“Seventy years,” the man replied.
Honi was puzzled. “Are you certain you will live another seventy years to enjoy it?”
The man answered, “When I came into this world, I found it filled with carob trees planted by my ancestors. Just as they planted for me, I am planting for my descendants.”
The story then shifts unexpectedly. Honi sits down to eat, falls into a deep sleep, and a rocky formation grows around him, hiding him from view as he sleeps for seventy years.
When he awakens, he sees someone gathering fruit from the carob tree.
“Are you the one who planted this tree?” Honi asks.
“No,” the man replies. “I am his grandson.”
I often think about that image - a grandfather planting a seedling, knowing he will likely never taste its fruit. In his mind, there is a child who has not yet been born. He does not know the child’s name or face. He does not know if that child will be grateful, or if anyone will remember who planted the tree. He only knows that someone planted for him. So he kneels in the soil and gives that same love to the future.
We have all eaten from trees we did not plant. We drink water that was protected by people who fought for laws before we were born. We go to schools and libraries built by people whose names we no longer remember. We worship with prayers, songs, and stories passed down through centuries by those who made sure they survived. We live with freedoms won by people who knew they might not live to see them.
Our lives are possible because someone cared about a future that did not include them.
This realization feels especially important to me now, because we have inherited wounds as well as gifts. We have inherited racism in our institutions, economic systems built on exploitation, soil that has been depleted, a changing climate, and a democracy that is more fragile than many of us realized. We inherited carob trees and damaged ground.
Now it is our turn to decide what we will leave behind.
That can feel overwhelming. The problems we face are huge, and our lives are short. We may never see a healed climate, a fair economy, a restored democracy, or a church free from the fears and prejudices that have limited its witness. We may work hard for years and still wonder if anything changed. When the harvest will not come in our lifetime, it is easy to stop planting.
The man by the road shows us a different way to think about faithfulness. He does not think he has to finish the story. He knows his life is just one small part of it. His job is to give the future something that can grow.
Perhaps this is the hope we need now. It is more subtle than optimism. It does not promise that everything will turn out as we hope. It does not ignore the harm already done or pretend that every seed will survive. It simply places something living into the ground.
A teacher does this by helping a child trust their own voice. An elder does it by telling the truth about a past others would rather forget. A congregation does it by shaping people for courage instead of just protecting itself. A community does it by restoring a stream or preparing a young leader whose work will last beyond those who are here now.
We plant whenever we give something to the future without demanding that the future reward us. This takes a special kind of humility. The people who enjoy the fruit may never know our names. They might take for granted what cost us something. They may tell the story in a way we would not have told it. Still, they will need the tree.
I wonder if love has always worked this way. We get more than we can ever repay from those who came before us, and then we spend our lives passing something on. Gratitude turns into responsibility. Memory becomes a promise. The fruit we received becomes the seed we give to someone else.
Today, consider what was planted for you. Think of someone whose courage, kindness, or sacrifice made your life better. Maybe it was a parent or grandparent. Maybe it was a teacher, pastor, neighbor, organizer, or friend. Maybe you never knew their name. Let yourself feel the love contained in what they left behind.
Then ask what you are planting now. Pick one thing to do, even if you may never see its results.
Seventy years from now, someone may rest under branches that are not here yet. They may taste something sweet because you believed their life mattered before you ever knew their name.
Plant for them.
We are in this together,
Cameron
Reflection Questions
What have you inherited because someone before you cared about a future they would never see?
What wounds or unfinished work has your generation been given to tend?
Where has your need for visible results kept you from beginning something worthwhile?
What could you plant now for people whose names you will never know?
A Prayer for the Day
A Prayer For Those Who Will Come After Us
God of seed and soil, of seasons we will see and seasons beyond our seeing, thank you for those who planted before us. For every shelter we did not build, every freedom we did not win, every truth kept alive until it reached us, we give thanks. Teach us to become faithful ancestors. Free us from the need to finish every story, control every outcome, or receive credit for every gift. Give us courage to plant in damaged soil. Bless the work that will outlive us. Bless the hands that will continue it. Bless the children who will gather fruit from trees whose branches are still hidden. May what we leave behind offer shelter, nourishment,justice, beauty, and belonging. And when we cannot see the harvest, help us trust the sacredness of the seed. Amen.
Spiritual Practice
Plant for the Future
Choose one thing you received from someone who came before you: an opportunity, a tradition, a place, a skill, a story, or an act of courage.
Write down the person’s name, if you know it, and what their gift made possible. Offer a word of gratitude for them.
Then choose one action you can take for someone who will come after you. Keep it small enough to begin today and meaningful enough to continue tending.
You might mentor a younger person, preserve a family or community story, support a long-term justice effort, restore a patch of land, contribute to an organization’s future, or plant something living.
Do it without asking whether you will be there for the harvest.
Upcoming Events That Might Be of Interest…
My team and I launched a new experiment we are calling “The Commons.” It’s an online space centered around communities of practice: groups of people who share a common concern, set of problems, or passion for a topic, and deepen their knowledge and expertise by interacting on an ongoing basis. Join the community here.
August 4 - September 1, 2026, 12:30-1:30pmET - Book Club in The Commons - FREE - We are reading our next book, “I Eat The Stars” by Sarah Wilson. We will meet each Tuesday for 6 weeks. It’s such great fun. I hope you will be a part. All are welcome! RSVP HERE.
August 6, 2026, 7-8pm ET - FREE EVENT - Join me in conversation with Rev. Natalia Terfa about her new book, “It All Counts: Finding God Beyond the Boundaries.” What if the moments you’ve been taught don’t “count” spiritually are actually where God is waiting to be found? Many of us were handed a version of faith that divided life into sacred and secular, holy and ordinary, faithful and doubtful. But what if those boundaries were never real? Whether you’ve left church, stayed in it, or find yourself somewhere in between, this conversation will offer fresh language for a faith that is expansive, embodied, and deeply human. REGISTER HERE.
August 20, 2026, 7-8:45pm ET - I will be joining Jackie Sussman for an online session on practicing eidetics as a part of our “Reclaiming the Power of Imagination” monthly series. Eidetic Imagery is a powerful tool for pastors, denominational leaders, coaches, and spiritual directors working with others, and for individuals seeking deeper integration and healing in their own lives. Jackie is a psychotherapist, author, and leading expert in Eidetic Image Psychology, and has spent over forty years helping leaders and individuals unlock creativity, uncover hidden strengths, and move through limiting patterns. During this session, she will lead a live Eidetic process shaped by mythic imagery, offering a direct experience of the work. REGISTER HERE.
September 8, 2026, 7-9pm ET, ONLINE EVENT - I’ll be hosting a powerful online gathering on The Black Madonna: Sacred Wisdom for a World in Crisis with Matthew Fox, Alessandra Belloni, and Christena Cleveland. We will explore the Black Madonna as a symbol of resilience, liberation, sacred feminine wisdom, and healing in a fractured world through conversation, story, music, and spiritual reflection. If you feel drawn toward a deeper encounter with the Divine Feminine and the ancient traditions that continue to nourish movements for justice and wholeness, I hope you’ll join us. Learn more and REGISTER HERE.
October 6, 2026 - 7-8:30pm ET, ONLINE EVENT - Matthew Fox and I are teaming up again to launch a series called Journeying with the Mystics. The mystics have always emerged in times of uncertainty. They appear when old certainties are crumbling, when institutions no longer provide easy answers, and when people find themselves longing for a deeper experience of the Sacred. Join us for an 18-session exploration of the teachings of St. John of the Cross, Thomas Merton, Hildegard of Bingen, Kabir and Rumi, Meister Eckhart and more. This is more than a lecture series. It is an invitation into a living spiritual journey. REGISTRATION COMING SOON!
October 18-21, 2026 - PREACH! 2026 Conference- I’ll be co-hosting PREACH in Minneapolis with Church Anew, a new gathering for preachers, storytellers, worship leaders, and spiritual communicators navigating what it means to speak with clarity, compassion, and courage in a changing world. If you’ve sensed that the preaching moment has changed and are longing for thoughtful community and renewed imagination for this work, I hope you’ll join us.
Fun Things My Friends Are Up To…
I get to work with such amazing, creative people. This section is my way of celebrating them—no paid promotions, just joy in what they’re creating.
Dr. Timothy Snyder, the author of On Tyranny, has publicly released the first lecture of a ten-lecture course he taught at the University of Toronto this past year. The course is called “Hitler and Stalin Today.” He is offering this as a public resource for students, researchers, and anyone interested in understanding the relationship between history and contemporary democracy. Follow his posts here or watch on YouTube.
July 29, 2026, 12pm ET - ONLINE WRITING GROUP - My dear friend, Meryl Marshall-Daniels, is leading a writing group open to all. This is a simple and spacious writing circle for people who want time to listen inwardly and put words on the page without overthinking, performing, or polishing. Meryl offers a prompt designed to invite reflection, imagination, and attunement to what is already alive within you. The practice honors writing as a way of listening, of letting images, memories, questions, and insights surface in their own time. Learn more here.
My friends over at Spiritual Wanderlust have some of the coolest classes. One I am particularly drawn to is their Celtic Spirituality School where you get to learn from people like John Philip Newell, Ilia Delio, Carl McColman, Sharon Blackie, and more. Read more about their program.
If you are a leader or member of a congregation looking for consulting support in visioning, planning, hiring or staffing, please consider Convergence.
https://www.sefaria.org/Taanit.23a?lang=en
Thank you, Rev. Cameron. "Unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains just a grain of wheat" (Jn. 12:24). May all our acts be selfless, may we die to self, may we live beyond reciprocation, and may we always be thankful for the kind acts done unto us by people we have long forgotten or never known. God bless!