I’m realizing that life lessons and reminders seem to come from the oddest
places.
I helped a friend clean up his tree line the other day. Several trees had grown
all over the existing fence which divided property lines and were beginning to
interfere with the neighbor’s farming efforts or so his neighbor thought.
Nevertheless, my friend in effort to be a good neighbor deferred and so we were
cutting down trees.
There were probably 50 trees surrounding the property along the fence line and
in the field. Each had similar groundings but vastly different shapes, sizes
and tendencies. Some grew straight and singular others curved and supported
many offshoots. Some grew true and strong beside the fence, others had grown
between the fence strands and, still others, into the fence itself. As I
performed my “lumberjack” duties, I noticed that those standing free were the
tallest, most beautiful and waved most freely in the wind (which there was an
abundance of that day). The other trees were somewhat restricted in growth and
movement by the fence.
I had to look at each tree to predict how it would fall and then attempt to
adjust my cutting approach appropriately. Most of the time, I was able to
execute this pretty well. However, there were a few trees that had grow up
through the fence and even though the base had been cut off, were held, for the
moment, upright by the fence. To my dismay this took considerable effort to
loose and free. Another tree had clearly been around for longer than me. It
had 5 offshoots from the trunk, each measuring a minimum of six feet around. We
decided to attack one of these which turned out to be no small task. As I
feverishly worked the saw I thought, ‘this stinking tree started as a seed and
then a sapling that I could snap in two with my fingers…and then I had a
thought or two of the man who didn’t when he had the chance.
I later considered how there were clear parallels from my experience and human
life. We’re all designed to find a common grounding. Each person intrinsically
holds the reflections of God and therefore an innate dignity and worth within.
However, each of us is designed a little (and sometimes vastly) different from
the other. Outside our common grounding, the expression of who we’re created to
be should stand and flow freely and unhindered. This is when the orchestra of
life plays most clearly. All too often, however, we cling to thing the outside
‘fences of life’. These could be poor habits, lifestyles, values or peer
pressures toward uniformity, consumption and the like.
I could go on drawing parallels and will continue in my own thoughts and
journal, but at the risk of beating a dead horse will stop and let you continue
as you consider “where are you standing?” and “how are you living?”. Here are a
few thoughts that come to mind:
*Growth is natural – that behemoth of a tree never tried to get big. It fed and
grew on day at a time.
*Grounding is vital – the trees cut off from the earth and standing with the aid
of the fence didn’t look unlike the other from a distance, but with time, the
lack of life would be evident to all.
*You are fearfully and wonderfully made knit together in your mother’s womb -
you and I have a designed purpose in life
*The thief came to steal, kill and destroy (wrap you up in fences and sever your
grounding)
*Christ came to provide abundant life – more than enough not for your own
consumption, but to spread life, shade, strength to others.
Have a great week keeping life Real,
Tony
