Related articles - Cutting Down the Forest
I think it’s something in a guy’s blood. We love guns, knives, axes and fires. Maybe it’s the ego boosting feeling of power that we feel when we have one of them in our hands. A few weeks ago, my daughter and son-in-law bought a new home in Coquitlam. Susan and I and several of Jeremy’s and Kristy’s friends helped them in the moving process and it’s been fun.
Like me, Kristy immediately wanted to change a few things – the color of the house trim, carpets, inside paint, sundeck, gardens, etc. The list is quite long, so Jeremy and I have been trying to pace ourselves as we tackle the various projects. But, one job that I’ve been looking forward to is cutting the large Tulip tree down that fills the front yard and blocks their view. They’ll plant a smaller tree and surround it with a rainbow of flowers.
We haven’t tackled the tree yet, but my grandson, Jacob, has been ready to go at it for the past two weeks. He began by tying his trusty lasso around the tree; every day since then, he spends several minutes leaning back and pulling on the rope to try to pull down the thirty foot tree. So far it hasn’t budged. Hopefully on Saturday, Jeremy, Jacob and I will be able to un-holster our axes and topple the mighty tree. At that time, Jacob will learn a valuable life lesson: Longstanding, well rooted, obtrusive trees do not fall over easily or quickly. To remove them, it takes a plan, due caution and a lot of hard work. When it’s completed, the garden that replaces it will make the process worth all the sweat and tears!
Last week, I wrote about some preliminary steps to take before beginning the pathway of success. The third one is to clean up the stuff that’s been holding us back, devaluing us and keeping us from enjoying wholeness. I mentioned some possibilities that must be severely cut out of our lives – fear, doubt, low self-esteem, indecisiveness, negative attitudes, bad habits or a cutting tongue.
Take attitude for example. I love the story Rotarian Magazine recorded of a certain organization that offered a bounty of $5000.00 for wolves captured alive. Sam and Jed were fortune hunters, and so day and night they scoured the mountains and forests looking for their valuable prey.
Exhausted one night, they fell asleep dreaming of their potential fortune. Suddenly, Sam woke up to see that they were surrounded by about fifty wolves with flaming eyes and bared teeth. He nudged his sleeping partner and whispered excitedly, “Wake up Jed! We’re rich!” That’s what I call a positive attitude.
There are several ways to remove a big tree – fire, chain saw and axes are three of them. There are also several ways to clean up restrictive junk in our lives, but one way I’ve seen work for hundreds of people in my acquaintance is the Christian 12 Step process. I’m sure many groups offer 12 Step programs and most of them are good. We have ongoing groups, called Higher Ground, at our church, that help men and women get past life-long wounding and brokenness. Whatever tools you choose to clean up the past, it is a necessary first step to wholeness and walking the pathway to success
