Trees in the desert are a rare sight. However, there are a few. When we purchased our home, the large willow tree in the front yard was one of the most beautiful features of the home. The shade it provided was a welcome relief to the brutally hot desert summers. It cast enough shadow to keep the front of our house a bit cooler and the grass below the tree a bit greener. It wasn’t a huge tree but had obviously been there a few years, as I couldn’t quite wrap my arms around the trunk when I gave it a hug.
Under the tree was the perfect spot to set up our little plastic kiddie pool for the girls in the summertime. And as they got older, it was the best spot in the yard for their Slip-n-Slide. It was also there that I placed my lawn chair as I sat and watched the neighborhood children, as well as my own, make circles around the cul-de-sac on their tricycles, bicycles, and Barbie Jeeps.
Our tree had the perfect branch where each Halloween we perched our not so typical jack-o-lantern. Our house was known as the house with the talking pumpkin. We would carve a large pumpkin, put a speaker in it, and wire up a microphone. As the neighborhood kids came up our front walkway to collect their goodies, we would take turns being the voice of the pumpkin. We could see and hear them from just inside our front door, but they couldn’t see us at all. If we knew them, we might address them by name. If not, we might comment on their costumes or tell a silly joke to get their attention. We would ask questions to see if we could get people to engage, and to our delight, most did. Very few were afraid, and the majority of our guests loved the experience, children and adults alike.
At the end of our sixth summer in the house, we noticed the tree had a branch or two that didn’t look very healthy. Sadly, we learned that many of the willow trees in the Mojave Desert were being infested by wood-boring beetles. The larvae bore into the wood, tunneling as they fed, causing fatal girdling on the willow trunk and lower branches. We called Mike, the bug-man, to come out and look at the tree. He told us he could destroy the bugs on the outside of the tree to slow them down, which he did, but the beetles were burrowing through the bark of the tree and were destroying it from the inside out. He could do nothing about the beetles on the inside of the tree. This was a bug-battle that even our friend Mike, hard as he tried, was going to lose. He told us it was just a matter of time before we would lose the tree. He recommended we go ahead and remove it.
As we discussed the removal of my favorite tree, my vote was we wait one more year before removing it. I didn’t think one more year would make much of a difference. I simply couldn’t part with my magnificent tree. Seriously, the tree didn’t look that bad, and we all know I can be a bit on the picky side. However, a year later, when summer arrived, the tree was so sick it oozed “smelly stuff” from its trunk and limbs, and the goop running down the sides of the tree attracted all sorts of other insects. If all the creeping, crawling, and flying bugs didn’t keep us out of our front yard that summer, the smell most certainly did. There were no pools set up to dip in, and there were no slides set up to slip on. No one wanted to be anywhere near our front yard that year.
When Summer turned to Fall, we had the tree removed and reclaimed our front yard. As you know, looks can be deceiving. Although the outside of the tree still looked pretty good, the beetles had caused havoc below the surface. As the tree was taken down and loaded on a truck for disposal, we could see there were entire limbs that had been completely hollowed out by the beetles, leaving the branches with nothing but the outer shell. It was a miracle a large piece of the tree hadn’t fallen to the ground with just the slightest gust of wind. Someone could have been seriously injured.
I can see how my willow tree directly relates to many situations we come across on our life’s journey. Sometimes we hang on to things longer than we should, be it a bad job or a bad relationship. Perhaps it’s a dream that doesn’t work out the way we had hoped it would. But there’s good news. We can replant. And when we replant, we can choose a different type of tree, one that is stronger, grows faster, and is less attractive to bugs that can harm or possibly destroy it.
I’m still learning to cut down and let go of some of the trees in my life. I’m learning as I let go of one tree, I can wrap my arms around another. This time I’ll look for a tree that flowers or one that attracts hummingbirds…two of my favorite things.
Wishing you joy and peace,
Lorrie
Revelation 22:14 – Blessed are those who wash their robes, that they may have the right to the tree of life and may go through the gates into the city.