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Previous Challenge Entry (Level 1 – Beginner)
Topic: Trees (12/05/05)
When I bought my house there was a huge beautiful oak tree in the front yard. The house was somewhat new and the tree was one of the few larger trees in the subdivision. I felt blessed to have it in the corner of my yard where it blocked the sun from the west as it poured in my living room during the blazing summer months. When autumn came my daughter would dance and then crash and giggle into a pile of leaves under the tree with her friend. During the spring we would patiently wait for the crocus’ to bloom next to the tree to ensure the cold winter would be over. The oak did so much for my family and I never really noticed until an ice storm late in the year destroyed it by breaking its heavy branches and bruising its trunk. My neighbors thoughtfully cut it down for me the next day. The following spring I replaced it with a birch. A delicate sapling. A Charlie Brown tree. It does not block the sun, it produces few leaves and there are no spring flowers that grow beneath it. It is not the oak. A bare spot lies in the corner of the yard where the oak once flourished but beneath the ground are roots that go deep into the earth. Even if you had never seen the tree, proof of the tree is still there, forever embedded in the ground.

When I am gone will people say I was a blessing, I provided comfort, entertainment, and security? Will they say I was small, timid, and unsure of my purpose? Will there be proof I was here? Will I be the oak or the birch? Will I have roots or will I be shallow? Will I break under unexpected storms? As God was the creator of the oak, the birch and the storm, in me He will plant roots, trim vines and give me the gift of His Son and I will grow to be the Oak.
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Member Comments
Member
Date
Sandra Petersen
12/13/05
This is a beautifully reflective piece! Would make a nice devotion.
I would divide the first paragraph into two with "The following spring I replaced it with a birch" being the topic sentence for the second paragraph. In the last line of your piece you say that God will "trim vines", but a tree does not have vines to trim. Would it be better to say that God will prune back unruly branches?
I especially liked the reference to the birch as "a Charlie Brown tree". This article was so nicely written!
Jan Ackerson
12/13/05
A very apt analogy.

Consider re-working the last sentence; what does "in me He will plant roots" mean? The idea of growing into an oak is wonderful--just needs some refining.