Things I Learned from Trees: Preemptive Action

For years after we moved into our present home I debated about the fate of two trees that sit at the rear of our home. Both were large in diameter. One towered over the pool and frequently dropped leaves and seed-bearing debris in the water. The other leaned at such an angle that it rose over our house in such a manner that, although the base was at the rear of the house, the top extended beyond the front of the house.

I hate to cut down trees. They have intrinsic beauty and they provide shade which is pleasing in the summer and reduces the need for air conditioning in the hotter months. But during Hurricane Ivan, we lived with the fear that one or both of these trees might fall and do damage to our home (or us).

Thus, after much discussion, we decided on about August 18th of 2005 to have both of them removed. That was 11 days before Hurricane Katrina devastated the Gulf Coast and did considerable damage in Mobile to trees. The winds of Ivan had blown mostly north to south and the trees, had they fallen would probably have gone away from our home. Katrina’s winds were consistently from the south, whether due south, southeast, or southwest, and the trees would have presented a real threat to our home, to the point that the one which towered over our home would have divided the house into a duplex with a breeze-way had it fallen.

Though the removal was expensive financially and the loss of their beauty and cooling shade was a bit painful, I sat and watched as the winds howled on August 29th without the fear that at any moment my house could be devastated. We had to give up something we really liked, something we received pleasure from on a daily basis, in order to protect something more important—our lives and our home.

Sometimes in my personal spiritual life I have to take preemptive steps, also. There are many pleasurable things that God has given us to enjoy in this world. Especially in this country we are blessed with the choice of pleasures to the point that they can become a distraction, or worse, a false god.

On occasion I consume in excess whatever the good food is that I love, and soon find that I am tired of it altogether. I realize, as a mentor has told me in the past, that what was meant to delight was not meant to truly satisfy. I don’t eliminate that item from my diet but I learn to discipline my appetite.

There are other pleasures which are more sacred and less freely accessed and around which God has placed very real and definite restrictions—the gift of sex, how we use our financial resources, how we treat our loved ones. In the case of the more sacred gifts, there are times when I need to preemptively discipline aspects of my life in order to avoid violating the sacred nature of the gift.

In the sexual arena, I avoid pornography in any of the forms made so accessible by the media avenues of today. I refrain from harmful use of our financial resources or from placing wants above needs or perceived needs above tithing. I try to prioritize my time such that family and friends come before idle hobbies that deprive me of their company.

Life is a series of choices. We could have left our trees standing; perhaps they would still be standing—perhaps our house would have been destroyed and our lives put in jeapordy. I can choose to obey God or I can choose to violate the law that the Holy Spirit has written on my heart and suffer the destructive results, things often not so dramatic as a house being crushed, but more eternally significant.

Each day the choices are new or similar ones re-present themselves. Before facing them, I find my “quiet place”, read the Word and other writings that draw me to the Father through the leading of the Holy Spirit. Then I go out into the world with the goal to be in it, but not of it.

Lord, thank You for the gift of faith that allows us to submit to You. Strengthen us to be obedient and to make the right choices, honoring the Cross and Your love. Amen.