Bye, Bye Trees!

We live in down in the valley, yet we are surrounded by woods! Most any type of tree that grows in the south (TN.) grows in or around our property! SERIOUSLY! We have red oak, maple, locust, box elder, hack berry, white oak, white mulberry, poplar, cedar, ash, Japanese Red Maple, sugar maple, paradise, paw paw, black maple, sassafras, sumac, cherry, walnut, bodock (Osage orange), beech…. I’m not even kidding!

Red Oak

We could not grow grass in our front yard no matter what we tried! Too much shade! I bet over the 23+ years we have lived there we have sown grass seed 15 times, to no avail. Over the past few years my man has noticed some dead trees---BIG DEAD TREES---that needed to come down before they fell on the house. Also, behind our house was a GIGANTIC red oak that needed to come down, much to my chagrin. That tree was at least 126 years old, if my hubby’s calculations are correct from counting the rings! Oh, how I hated to see that one go!!!

These trees were not easily accessible by an amateur; a bucket truck was needed along with a very long-bladed chain saw. So….after our electric company marked trees that needed to come down, and knowing a bucket truck would be dispatched for that little job, my man talked to the company about assisting us in removing some other trees. In the initial process they did some damage to our concrete driveway. So, in exchange for not repairing that little mess, they agreed to cut down some trees for a very reasonable price. Last weekend we had to cut down a locust, hack berry, box elder, and the GIGANTIC RED OAK! This was a process, done in stages, in between their “regular” (i.e. "paid") job. We were promised that all the mess would be cleaned up before our dinner party last evening. YOU GUESSED IT! Didn’t happen!

I grabbed my camera to capture the memories of our beloved trees that no longer adorn our yard, albeit one tree! YES, I said ONE tree remains---that’s all! One measly tree! No need to worry about too much shade anymore! Sunlight will be abundant, no doubt about that! I’m sad! I don’t like it! We went from the ridiculous to the sublime! I’m trying to look at the positive, but it ain’t happenin’!

As I perused the mess left in the yard, it hit me~ that’s kind of like my life at times! A big fat mess!  Everything in disarray; no rhyme or reason; a tangled mess just waiting for someone to clean it up. Yes, I could get out in the yard and move some of the smaller limbs, the twigs, the lightweight pieces. But the big Mama firewood logs I could not budge if I tried.

So it is with my life! God has given me a mind, a body, and the ability to do many things. AND, I believe He expects me to use those resources effectively! Yet, He has also told me in His Word that much of the mess of my life I cannot clean up, try as I may! Only HE can remove the big debris in my life; only HE can untangle most of the messes I have created; only HE can bring order out of the chaos in my life. However, in order for Him to bring order into my life I must be available to Him, and willing to allow Him to move and work in me. He does not need (or want) my ability; He does need (and want) my availability!

Why, then, do I work and labor and struggle so hard to clean up the disarray of parts of my life? So He will love me more? Not true! So I will feel more worthy of His love? Won’t happen! So I will find more favor in His eyes? NOTHING I can do will make Him love me any more or any less! HE loves me just as I am…right now…flaws and all! I HAVE favor in His eyes. But I MUST get the focus off of me and onto HIM; off of who I am not and on to who He IS! Sounds so simple, so easy…yet so hard to do!