I’m not sure how many of you heard about the HUGE Weeping Willow tree that fell in the back of our yard the other morning.
I shared on Facebook the day it happened, but if you aren’t following there you probably missed it.
Anyway, let me just say it was the calmest morning ever. Around 6:30 am I heard a strange loud noise, but since I was still inside I couldn’t make out what it was. Our kitty Jasper was sitting at the door wall looking outside because he clearly heard it too. It was still kind of dark, so I saw nothing.
My husband and a guy he works with were outside preparing to leave for work when it happened.
It was VERY loud according to my hubby who walked the yard until he found which tree it was.
We actually have a couple that we should have taken down soon because we just know one day they will fall too. But we never in a million years expected this HUGE tree filled with beautiful leaves to fall.
It did not look dead at all. In fact, I had just watched a few squirrels making nests in the day before while visiting out chickens.
You would never have thought this tree would fall by the looks of it.
Someone sent me a message saying the trouble with Weeping Willow trees is that they have root systems that never grow very deep. This leaves the roots vulnerable to disease, insects, fungi, weather, etc.
Here was this beautiful tree filled with bright green leaves offering up quite a show to anyone who saw it. But underneath was a completely different story.
The roots had been rotting slowly for some time. And at 6:30 am that fateful morning it could no longer stand under the pressure of everything it was trying to maintain above ground.
A couple of days ago my husband and I were taking advantage of one of the last summer days on the lake.
I have been intrigued by this tree every time we go fishing.
I mean here is what appears to be a completely dead tree. The contrast between it and all of the live flourishing trees surrounding it have tugged at my heart but I never understood knew why.
That is until this morning as I was contemplating deep things and trying to make sense of the fact that a live tree full of leaves, home to many animals could just one day fall over and die while this tree which appears already to be dead continues to stand up even amongst all of the other live trees surrounding it.
And then it hit me.
The only difference between the two trees is the root systems.
Mark 4:17
New International Version (NIV)
17 But since they have no root, they last only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, they quickly fall away.
I actually really like the way The Message version puts it:
Mark 4:17
The Message (MSG)
16-17 “And some are like the seed that lands in the gravel. When they first hear the Word, they respond with great enthusiasm. But there is such shallow soil of character that when the emotions wear off and some difficulty arrives, there is nothing to show for it.
You see life is filled with things that will challenge us to grow deeper in our faith and character or stay where we are in life. Sometimes the safe place is not the best place to be.
The last several years have been full of trials, tribulations, and change for every member of my family, so I feel like I have come to have an appreciation of this scripture so much more now.
I encourage you to do some self-evaluation today to see how your roots are growing.
It’s not a bad thing to look dead on the outside, as long as your roots are healthy it’s actually a pretty good place to be.
Although you might stand out a little from the crowd of trees full of life with dead roots.
I pray that we will all be dead trees with roots that are deep and free from any kind of rot.
Leave a Reply