It was not a good time for scrawny trees and dead branches.
Beginning on Valentine’s Day, we had a run of weather that separated the proverbial men from the boys in the tree world around here. Strong winds, ice, more big winds, and lots and lots of rain.
On Valentine’s Day last year, we had an earthquake and were just recovering from a big snow. If Mother Nature and Cupid were real, I might wonder if they had some kind of feud going on.
Although my hubby and I came through the 2014 Valentine’s snowstorm and earthquake unscathed last year, we didn’t fare so well with the wind-ice-wind combo platter served up this year. In fact, our property still looks a bit like a war zone. Joe had to cut a tunnel through pines that completely blocked our very long driveway to create a path that’s just barely wide enough for our car to get through.
I’m pretty sure we made the UPS man cuss when he had to navigate that tunnel to deliver some enormously important package the other day. (I can’t recall what it was, but I’m sure it was enormously important because I only order enormously important things.)
The walking trails around our property are also blocked with fallen trees and branches, so I’ve had to hit the treadmill for exercise. I find the scenery in our basement far less inspiring than my beloved woods, but unless I pass “Chainsaw 101,” I’m afraid the trails are likely to remain impassable for quite some time.
Living in the woods is all fun ‘n’ games until something like this happens.
Long after city folk have forgotten all about the February weather, we’ll still be dealing with its aftermath.
We’d probably be further along in our clean-up if my husband weren’t busy right now building a “poultry palace” for the chickens we’ll soon be acquiring. But don’t get me started on that. That’s a column…or perhaps many columns…for another day.
Anyway, we have enough trees and branches down around our hacienda to keep Joe busy with his trusty chainsaw and wood chipper for a long, long time.
If you happen to know any beavers, please do send them our way. The beaver buffet is on and we’ll take all the help we can get.
Yes, this has been a perilous time for trees with weak roots and dead branches…which has made pause and consider my own.
How healthy and strong are my spiritual roots and branches? Is my mind anchored deeply and securely in the truth of God’s Word? Am I vitally connected to Jesus, the only source of “living water,” through prayer?
There are powerful, evil winds blowing in our world, and our culture is growing increasingly icy toward those who follow Jesus Christ and embrace the truth found in His Word.
I think of the 21 Egyptian Christians recently beheaded by ISIS in Tripoli. Maybe you’ve seen the images of those Christ-followers kneeling in their orange jumpsuits before their captors.
All they had to do to save their lives was renounce their Savior and worship Allah, but they wouldn’t do it.
I don’t know anything about these men except that when it counted most, in the midst of the most violent storm any of us could face, they held fast and stood strong.
No scrawny trees or dead branches among them.
May that be said of all who name the name of Christ.
“Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord and whose trust is the Lord. For he will be like a tree planted by the water, that extends its roots by a stream and will not fear when the heat comes…” – Jeremiah 17:7-8a