Our community is blessed with a wealth of pecan trees – from the first pecan trees planted at Nutwood Winery in the 1830s to the small groves lining our downtown streets. It’s no surprise given Georgia’s status as our nation’s top pecan producing state. Even though tariffs have taken a bite out of our exports, pecans contribute $1.9 billion to our economy. That’s a lot of pecan pies!
If you’re like me and enjoy walking The Thread, you may have noticed that many of our sidewalks and public greenspaces are covered with this important cash crop. As nutritious as they are valuable, you could easily stuff your pockets with enough pecans for a healthy snack and a batch of brownies just walking around town.
With the exception of a father-daughter duo picking up a 5-gallon bucket full of nuts beside Springdale Drive just before Thanksgiving two years ago, I have never seen anyone taking advantage of our abundance. Instead, pecans are crushed underfoot, washed away with the rain, and piled up by the side of the road with lawn debris. I have often wondered why. Do people not have time to pick them up and shell them? Do they not know that they’re looking at a natural harvest? Or can they just not be bothered?
As a practice in gratitude, inspired by a recent sermon, I have begun picking up all the pecans I find along my daily walks. So far, I’ve gathered more than two gallons, which would cost more than $100 and provide enough nuts for baking and snacking for most families for a year. I’ve shared them with friends, and I hope that their goodness may inspire others to enjoy what the Lord has richly provided with no more effort required on our part than to pick them up and crack a shell.
I understand solar energy in a similar spirit. While it takes a little more technology to put it to work, solar energy is available everywhere in great abundance, unlike other sources of power that have to be mined and transported over long distances. Most homes could be powered by the equivalent of about 400 square feet of solar panels, so it’s also a good fit for small-scale power generation paired with small-scale batteries – filling in gaps and strengthening our grid alongside other sources of energy.
Solar power, alongside wind and legacy sources of power, give us access to all the energy resources we need to solve our nation’s energy and affordability crisis. In fact, enough solar energy hits the earth in a single day to power the whole world for a year. Just like those pecans, however, we don’t always recognize or use God’s provision well.

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