Fresh, Clean and Full of Possibilities

Yes ladies, he is mine.  Such a handsome man.

Our yard looks totally different today then it did yesterday.  We had a company come out and clear several trees and limb up some trees.  Looking out my office window, there are four trees missing.  These trees were no longer viable and were only taking away from the beauty of our home.  

We can look at this two ways.  

1.  The trees provided privacy.  They had grown to the point that you couldn't see the front porch from the road until you got to the driveway.  These trees did what the original owners of our home wanted them to do.  

2.  The trees were half dead.  Because of the death in the trees, they were no longer doing a good job.  Parts of these trees no longer had leaves and were bare.  No longer did they provide the kind of privacy that they were planted for and they were looking really ugly.  I have to admit, I never liked them and asked several times for them to be removed but as my husband told me, it was not yet time.

Ooooo...."It was not yet time"...there's a message in that.  

That statement reminds of me of the parable about the wheat and the tares in Matthew 13:24-30.  In verses 28b-30 (NKJV), it says,

"The servants said to him, 'Do you want us then to go and gather them up?'  But he said, 'No, lest while you gather up the tares you also uproot the wheat with them.  Let both grow together until the harvest, and at the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, "First gather together the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them, but gather the wheat into my barn."'"

We have to be careful not to act too quickly and risk damaging the good seed that has been planted, destroying our harvest.  

Now that we have waited, there are still beautiful trees that have been given the time to mature and provide a border that we can now go in and add some color with flowering bushes.  I like things a little more open, so this works for me.  

For some, the clearing of the trees might make them sad because they don't like the change it brings, especially to the front of the home.  My daughter, Kelcie, was upset when her daddy told her that we took down four trees by our driveway.  She has always wanted to put a hammock between them.  What she didn't know was that at any given time, these overgrown, huge trees were dead and leaning toward her bedroom and half the house could have been destroyed if we didn't do something.  Sometimes what looks best really is not what is best.  

So each time we look outside, we see changes.  Our property looks like it just grew because of the clearing out of dead wood.  It looks fresh and clean and full of possibilities.  When it is done right, at the right time, it gives you something to work with.  This is true in the natural and the spiritual.  

This was our yard, two years ago.
The tree to the left is now gone.

I hope you have a good day.  As you can tell, I am still working with my word of the year...CHANGE. It's a good word when you let God do it.