Then God said: Let the land sprout with vegetation—every sort of seed-bearing plant, and trees that grow seed-bearing fruit. These seeds will then produce the kinds of plants and trees from which they came.

Genesis 1:11

No need for concern about my title…I’m not referring to those large birds that carry people. These helicopters are the twirly, whirly seed pods that dive into our yard every spring populating the holes in our gutter guards, hiding behind windshield wipers, filling every crack in any pavement, and making a general nuisance of themselves. They fall from a silver maple out front and two lovely red maples in the back yard. I don’t know if everyone knows them as helicopters or not, but we have described them as such for as long as I can remember. Before we know it, they’ll be poking new life through the earth in huge numbers and creating havoc in my landscape beds. They love to hide underneath larger plants until their roots grow deep enough that I have difficulty pulling them.   

A closer study of these little gems of nature reveals a blueprint for life that only God could create. The helicopters consist of a seed tucked deep in the pointed end of the structure. The top part is a much thinner membrane that is the single blade of these fearless fliers. The design is so simple, the heavier seed on the point falls to the ground first, followed by the delicate blade, twisting and turning in the breeze. There have been mornings when I’ve looked out over the yard and witnessed thousands of those wispy little blades standing tall above the grass, having safely delivered their payload. The blade will wither and fall away while the seed begins to swell, ultimately breaking free from its shell. Tiny roots will reach down in hope of finding fertile soil. And soon, a tiny new tree will emerge. A perfect plan, an incredible design, and one of the many miracles that surround us every day.

But, alas, so many detours can block those healthy little trees from becoming the giants that grace our lawn and shade us from the sun. My research into the fate of maple seeds introduced their scientific name as samaras. Personally, I like helicopters better and I think it describes them perfectly. I learned that my trees, the red and silver maple, along with the Norway maple, take top production honors. Some estimates suggested twelve to twenty thousand in a single year. That’s one tree and we have three.

The seeds are not particular where they fall and require no specific soil or conditions. The germination rate can reach seventy-five to eighty percent in two to six days and total germination is often eighty-five to ninety-one percent. Our three trees can produce thirty to sixty thousand seeds per year and using the lowest rate of germination, we could have twenty-seven to forty-five thousand trees planted by nature in our yard. Of course, some of them blow into neighboring yards and many are quickly scooped up by birds and squirrels. Many more meet the fate of the mower blade while still others become victims of my keen eye and unforgiving hands. In the end, no new trees survive our onslaught and that of the critters, because when you add two very prolific oak trees to our equally prolific maples, we have quite enough trees, thank you. But don’t fret… because some of those seeds drifted off to other locations and some were carried by birds and other critters who feasted on their goodness. God’s perfect plan was not thwarted just because we eliminated the newly sprouted trees from our yard. They will thrive in their new homes and become beautiful trees.

Don’t get me wrong, I love our trees. They give us wonderful shade from hot summer sun, offer a nesting place for birds and squirrels, and fall is a continuous palette of reds, yellows, and oranges with coppery highlights. Even more, I love the individual plan that God set forth for every living thing. His plan is one of intricate simplicity. You may view those two words as a contradiction, but when applied to the whole of a lifespan, they are accurately descriptive. And guess what….He has a perfect plan for you too.

As long as the earth endures, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night will never cease. Genesis 8:22