Tree Topping

One of the blessings of having a home that's 35+ years old is having mature trees on our lot. It's also one of reasons we have a good relationship with an arborist...

Today is the second of three (planned) days that the guys are here trimming and taking out trees. Taking out trees is part high-wire ballet, part physics. It's as interesting as it is scarey. I watched, fascinated, as first low branches are trimmed, then the higher and higher ones until it is time to 'top it' and send the highest limbs to the ground with a big THUD.

Some would consider it a personal hell to have to climb 3 or 4 stories high, up a tree trunk, with only spikes on one's shoes and a 'safety rope', and dangling a chainsaw at one hip. I am completely in agreement! It was spellbinding and petrifying, all at once.

This morning was even more amazing because there's a pretty stiff breeze (about 15 mph with gusts nearly double that!) The lead tree topper is probably 40-50 feet off the ground taking down this tired old Norwegian spruce. Over 60% of the tree was made of dead branches and browning needles. The branches were rotting in the middle and there was nothing I'd call a secure handhold on the whole tree. If Fear Factor offered me a million bucks, I still would not climb up a tree in what amounts to boots with stilleto heel spikes!!

As the tree was lopped to the ground in large pieces, it started looking more like a totem pole than a tree. Now it's just mulch in the back of the truck! What was an insurmountable job in my hands was mulch in less than 30 minutes in the expert's hands.

A lot of my faith walk has been like this tree topper. What seems impossible, is not. I have come to see the impossible become possible ONLY when I put it in the Expert's Hands. What seems permanent and lasting forever will be "mulch"... "in the twinkling of an eye."

I love that big of a God. Pretty amazing...

from our home to yours...

Deb