More trees are down – on purpose this time. Call it a preemptive strike. Enormous pines grown so tall over the years, their ominous proximity to the house and recent storm damage memories combined to push the clearing to the top of the to-do list. Next door neighbor knows a guy who will give us a good deal as a favor to her – said pines are also ominously close to her house.
And so he came and climbed so high I couldn’t watch – chainsaw dangling from a rope. This just doesn’t seem like a good thing to do. The process of whittling from top down in 3′ chunks – collecting at the base like so many discarded Lincoln Logs – repeated over and over until trunks could be felled with a house-shaking boom. The only evidence left behind at dusk are the raw stumps, sawdust and Bobcat tracks (machine not animal). The arborist wiped his sweat with an old t-shirt and left to pick up his laundry before heading to West Virginia to jump off a bridge. With a hand held parachute, he said. He’s done it before and has video on his phone to prove it. This doesn’t seem like a good thing to do, either. The stumps are ground by a different guy – not sure if he knows the neighbor or not- and we are left with mounds of wood shavings and dirt inside the craters.
The light is different now. The house is brighter – inside and out. And the fragrance of pine is strong and fresh. We can see more of the neighbors’ yards and they can see ours. Might be good, might be bad depending on the situation. I’ve been thinking twice about sitting on the deck in my pajamas after the sun comes up. Just saying.
There’s something liberating about a clearing. Whether it involves trees or minds … or closets or purses for that matter. Maybe that’s what I most appreciate about Autumn. It’s not the pumpkin spice candles, coffee… (insert any myriad of scented or flavored items) – sacrilege, I know. It’s the stripping away of Summer’s excess – the cooling off of Summer’s heat. Sloughing off the dying bits of detrius exposing the bare branches of our paradigms. Embracing the chill of vulnerability in our soul-Autumn until it gives way to authentic Thanks-giving. Then we can trod decidedly toward Nativity up ahead surrounded by fresh fragrance and better light. And maybe jump off some apathy-bridges along the way.
Paul says it like this, “… lay aside every encumbrance, and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us.” Hebrews 12:1 (NASB)
Still not sitting on the deck in my pajamas in the daylight, though. Neighbor did us a favor – one good turn deserves another.
[In the spirit of transparency, this writer just consumed a Keto approved pumpkin bar.]
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