Tree Branch
There are 3 types of tree branches that can fall in your yard and a fourth type as well. There are those that you run over with your lawn mower. Interesting side story, the ability to mow over small branches and the speed of the riding lawn mower were two important criteria in choosing my last lawn mower. Now, if you are appalled that a person would mow over any size branch you either have a very small lawn (and don’t consider twigs to be small branches) or, to quote Patrick, “you lie and your breath stink.”
*Pastor’s Note: Properly pronounced, it’s “You lie; and yo breff stank.”
The second type of tree branch is one that is small and brittle enough that it can be broke in pieces that are acceptable in the trash (our service requires the lengths to be 15” or less to be accepted).
The third type is one that can’t be broken into pieces without cutting help (chain saw). The fourth type is a variant of this in that the limb is either so big that you end up dragging it to a hiding place to rot or you pay a tree service to remove. Unfortunately, we had experience three times this year with those.
This last weekend, we had a branch fall that should have been in the second category. Unfortunately, I haven’t regained my upper body strength back from my surgery so I dragged it to the end of the driveway in hopes the trash guy would have pity on me and take it anyway (he didn’t and didn’t know I had surgery to have pity on me). I left it there thinking I’d drag it to the back to rot another day.
My neighbor, who did know I had surgery 6 weeks ago, must have saw it and dragged it to her burn pile because it was gone this morning. What a blessing to have good neighbors.
“All things are lawful,” but not all things are helpful. “All things are lawful,” but not all things build up. Let no one seek his own good, but the good of his neighbor.” - 1 Corinthians 10:23-24 ESV
“And he said to him, ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.’” - Matthew 22:37-40
But wait, there is more…symbolism of trees and branches…
“I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit. Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you. Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in me he is thrown away like a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned.” - John 15:1-6
“Now the Lord God appointed a plant and made it come up over Jonah, that it might be a shade over his head, to save him from his discomfort. So Jonah was exceedingly glad because of the plant. But when dawn came up the next day, God appointed a worm that attacked the plant, so that it withered. When the sun rose, God appointed a scorching east wind, and the sun beat down on the head of Jonah so that he was faint. And he asked that he might die and said, “It is better for me to die than to live.” But God said to Jonah, “Do you do well to be angry for the plant?” And he said, “Yes, I do well to be angry, angry enough to die.” And the Lord said, “You pity the plant, for which you did not labor, nor did you make it grow, which came into being in a night and perished in a night. And should not I pity Nineveh, that great city, in which there are more than 120,000 persons who do not know their right hand from their left, and also much cattle?” - Jonah 4:6-11
And, if you’re still reading, this bonus…
“Three things are too wonderful for me; four I do not understand: the way of an eagle in the sky, the way of a serpent on a rock, the way of a ship on the high seas, and the way of a man with a virgin. Under three things the earth trembles; under four it cannot bear up: a slave when he becomes king, and a fool when he is filled with food; an unloved woman when she gets a husband, and a maidservant when she displaces her mistress. Three things are stately in their tread; four are stately in their stride: the lion, which is mightiest among beasts and does not turn back before any; the strutting rooster, the he-goat, and a king whose army is with him.” - Proverbs 30:18-19, 21-23, 29-31
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I kind of drifted into an infomercial tone if you didn’t catch it…
