365 Day Photo Challenge: Day 56, A Giant Fallen

In this life there are so many things to worry about, stress is a natural survival tool that is inherent in our DNA.There is always something to fret about but some things that we fear will never even come to pass. This post is about a lumbering, loved giant that became an impending cost and liability.

I try to see God’s intervention in my life, I am always seeking a purpose or a metaphor, maybe it’s the writer in me. Lessons in nature are written on an unseen board and they are always there to instill wisdom even if we are too busy stressing to learn the intended lesson.

This giant Mulberry tree has been in my yard for years. I have watched it shade the lawn, feed flocks of waxwings in the spring and offer a high perch for the orioles to sing in summer. I watched its color change and its leaves fall to the ground and I’ve watched it die a very slow death.

I have spent money on trimming, thinning and maintaining this giant so it wouldn’t destroy the neighbors house or my own. The last and final part of the project would be a very expensive extraction which I avoided over several years and equally feared the inevitable result.

With time, it laid down perfectly in the yard, resting on the shed. All of my fear and stress through straight-line winds and active tornadoes and the giant laid down without the destruction I feared. The lesson is that things work themselves out, we fear so many future things we can’t change or can’t afford to fix and much of these stresses will work themselves out on their own.

I will miss the shade but at the same time, the sun lights up the back yard and the birds love the shelter the fallen limbs offer. The landscape of our future is never what we envision, we need to realize we are not alone in this endeavor and an unseen hand is in control.

The giant laid down, exactly where it needed to, instead of stressing about its future demise and the inevitable destruction of property, maybe I should’ve just enjoyed its beauty and shade.