I walked out of the house this morning just in time to see a branch of my favorite tree, crash to the ground. My eyes flew to the top of the tree, where I encountered 5 grinning boys, hpapily hacking away at the branches with machetes, whooping in delight every time one fell. Apart from the obvious enjoyment the boys were getting, and my concern for their safety, and my realization that I'll soon be missing sights like these, there are several thoughts that came to my head.
The first thought was how much I don't like change. Many trees on our campus have had to be cut down, since their root systems began intefering with pipes and house foundations and such. Every time one went down, I felt a little sad, like this place would never be the same without it. (It made me think a little of every time a kid has left, and how the place has never been quite the same). Besides, they provided wonderful shade and they look very ugly with all the branches cut off. This particular tree is one of the last. I remember days spent raking huge piles of leaves underneath, and Sabbath afternoons spent with a blanket and a book in its shade. But, that's life. Things change, you move on. Loosing a tree is really not that big of a deal, but somehow it just seemed appropriate to stop and contemplate for a moment.
The other thought had to do with how this can apply to our spiritual lives. We may have something in our life that seems beautiful, cool, and shady on the outside. But underneath the surface it's diggin in its roots and disturbing the foundation. We must be very careful to eliminate such things from our lives - no matter how difficult that may be.
1 comment:
Oh man, I have such a hard time with change too. Somehow it's nice to hear that other people struggle with it too--even in simple ways, like tress being cut down. I think I would find that quite distressing too. Very well said with the spiritual application of unseen roots. It's easy to miss what we don't want to see, but the consequences are still there.
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