Stumps

 

"What's wrong?" she asked.

"I ran over another one," he said shakily.
"Are you okay?"
"I'm okay, but the blade is bent."

**

 Five beautiful treed acres
 

can be intimidating
on that riding lawn mower
for one good reason -

tree stumps.

 

Hitting those stumps is unnerving.

And they seem to outnumber the grains of sand.

 

After the last soaking rain,

the ground has softened.
The stumps' surrounding soil shriveled causing the stumps to be more prevalent ...
more dangerous.

And he took fire to as many tree stumps as he could find.

 

 

After a good burning, monitored closely,

the stumps fell apart.

Taking a shovel, he removed the fragments.
Thankfully, due to the storms, the softened ground made for easier removal.

Those stumps will never be encountered again.

 

  

The tree stumps in our lives are present.

We think we have resolved problems in our lives

only to discover unresolved roots still present.

The tree has been cut down,

but the stump remains.

Bitterness
Anger

Yeah.

Mom and Dad divorced when I was a child.

Yeah.

 

They often lie dormant until life's rains fall.

The stump's surrounding fragile foundation shrivels,

and the stump raises its ugly head.

 

We run into them.

We stumble and fall.
We are bent and broken.

 

If we don't allow God
- the owner of our life's property,
our sure foundation -
to handle issues,
after the storms,
 while soil is soft,

setting holy fire and getting to the root,

we'll fall apart with the next good stiff breeze.

 

  

One of life's greatest feats is overcoming life's defeats.