Thinking at Harkness

We just had a tree loose all it's leaves on one side. It was a double tree. One side seemed fine and healthy while the second side became more bare as the weeks progressed. We knew we
had to remove the sick half so that the well half could survive. When we were finally able to have the tree work done, I watched and spoke as time allowed to the two young men who did the work. One of the young men was a forestry worker and was trained in the art of safely cutting trees down. The other was an arborist. When he spoke, he spoke almost as if the tree was human and he was a gifted surgeon. He spoke of the tree and it's outer skin and how all of the life of this great tree hung in the balance of the life fluids being able to travel from the root system to the leaves and back. I began to feel the pain of this tree and was glad that we had been gifted by God to live with this tree and enjoy it's shade. And gifted with these fine young men.
When they finally began to climb the tree to begin the cutting, they climbed with great care, for their own safety and so that they could plan all the cuts that would be needed to cut but not harm the tree, or themselves. Each cut was done with great care and each part as it fell
came down just as planned. A very gifted process that required thought and skill. An art.
When the job was done the young men and I spoke more about the process and about how they had enjoyed the work. The joy came because they had been able to use all the skills that they had learned in school, and because of the trust that I had given to them to be free and do the right thing. They did not have tough bosses yelling orders at them. They felt our trust.
Often we feel more joy in life when we are living in trust and living truth.
To live in relationship when there is no trust brings with it pain and emptiness, and a lack of joy.
As I grow older and see my children move
into adulthood, I am blessed for the prayers that I have prayed for them. I have also learned that we need to be patient with God. He knows what he is doing, and if we will only trust in his love for each of us, he will bless us and our loved ones. What we never seem to understand is that God's clock is not our clock and we have to just let him do his work. We have grown to expect results instantly. The world around us (Gods world), is like a fine musical instrument, and has to be fine tuned to get the right note to play. This takes time.
He Loves you all. Slow down, enjoy the ride. God is driving the bus.

Bob.