We came home the other night after 3 weeks out teaching VBS’. It was good to get home for a little R&R before we head out to do 3 more VBS’, a Bible camp, and several churches yet this summer. The first thing we did as we climbed out of our motorhome was to head towards our pond. Ryan (one of our son-in-laws) had reported a great wind had come through earlier in the week and blew over the willow tree by the pond.
He was right … there it lay with its roots exposed to the sky. As we approached, our sadness from the loss of the tree was replaced by joy. There amid the fallen branches was a young buck mule deer with its antlers still in velvet. He was contently munching on the leaves of the weeping willow. I am still a little sad about losing the willow (and the unscheduled work it will take to remove it), but am reminded that it was a gift from God. You see, only 4 years ago it sprouted up along the bank of our pond. We didn’t plant it … God did.
One of the poems I learned in high-school was by poet Joyce Kilmer (1886-1918). After all these years I had forgotten all the words, but looked them up tonight.
I think that I shall never see
A poem as lovely as a tree.
A tree whose hungry mouth is prest
Against the earth’s sweet flowing breast;
A tree that looks at God all day,
And lifts her leafy arms to pray;
A tree that may in Summer wear
A nest of robins in her hair;
Upon whose bosom snow has lain;
Who intimately lives with rain.
Poems are made by fools like me,
But only God can make a tree.
Funny, I didn’t recall the last verse. In high-school I had already began the slide towards atheism. Today, I know who really made the tree. The verse says it well!
Lanny Johnson
