We had our house built almost 12 years ago. After what felt like a long wait for us to finally move in, we arrived and a new tree had been planted in the front yard. It was tiny. It was young. But, it was alive and growing. As the years have gone by, we have taken the time to water and feed the tree. Slowly, but surely, the tree has grown. One day it was tiny and the next thing we knew it was huge! We had been warned that a Bradford Pear tree would grow quickly. We had also been warned that you must continually thin the tree and cut it back; otherwise, it would split and fall. Every year we would cut back some branches. Even though it looked healthy, too many branches would be its downfall.
Fast forward 12 years and there was a split in our tree. This was after what we thought was careful pruning. So, out came the chain saw! We cut more branches than we ever had and got it to where we thought the weight of the branches would be fine. It was a tiring but productive day. Then came the storm. My husband and I were so tired we didn’t even hear the loud crack, but our neighbors heard it and told us the next morning how it was so loud they thought it was in their yard. So, Brian got up the next morning to go to work when he was greeted by half of our tree against our house. Yep, it had broken under the pressure.
I don’t know about you, but every year I get older I feel as though another branch is being added to my “tree”. I got the “walking” branch when I was one. I got the school branch of responsibility in Kindergarten. Several other branches of school were added each year as more homework was given. Let’s not forget the working branch, the church branch, and the God branch. Oh, we also have the wedding branch, the marriage branch, and the kid branch. Then, we added the kids’ school branches, the PTA branch, the housework branch, and several volunteer branches.
My branches keep growing and I’m feeling weighted down by all the pressure and responsibilities. Where is my owner who is supposed to prune me? Where is the person who is going to water and feed me to give me the strength to not only make it with these branches, but to carry the weight of the others getting ready to grow in my life?
We are just like my poor tree. We can only handle so much pressure before we will break. Some branches in our life are meant to stay on our tree for as long as we live, but there are many others that grow for a time and then need to be cut. We have to allow our owner, a.k.a. God, to cut us and shape us into the person we need to be. He’s waiting for our permission to work in our lives. Without the cutbacks and the pruning, we will fall under our own weight and be broken. Now, you might be thinking you can hold a lot of weight before you are broken. This is true for some, but let’s go back to my tree for a moment. As I’m looking out the window, my once strong and complete tree is now broken and half its size. It will never be the same. I suggest we all look at our present branches of activities and expectations before we break under the pressure.
© 2012 Susan M. Sims
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Good thoughts!