December 1, 2022
Data
My wife and I stayed up until around 3:30am cleaning the house to make it ready to list and for showings. A necessary evil. We had to get the dogs and a sick kid out of the house for two hours while the agent and photographer snapped the pictures in order to list our place. When I finally got back to the house I was depleted. I sat down in my little office and watched a bird go from branch to branch on our tree, the same tree I’ve been observing all semester. It was amazing to see how the tree was strong enough to hold this creature on its little branches. The branches aren’t very thick, especially the ones that the bird chose – maybe a tenth of an inch in diameter? It didn’t seem to matter; they held this bird well. When the bird flew away (only to return ten seconds or so later) the tree swayed. Fascinating. Strong enough even in its smaller parts to hold this bird, yet flexible enough to be caused to move by the bird’s departure.
I just walked out in the dark and the negative 24-degree weather because it hit me that the bird might have been after the cherries. It appears that they are still there. Not even the bird is bold enough to try these. The cherries are now very shriveled. This cold is doing us all in.
Affect
In my utter exhaustion I was moved to see this bird finding a place to rest on the branches of this tree. It brought a certain calm to me. The simplicity of it all was so moving. This semester has been draining and is ending with an even greater intensity. I’ve been moving at an unhealthy pace and have really felt it. Anyway, I just decided to sit and watch that bird and the tree for a while. The bird seemed happy for a place to rest. Happy to be held, or at least upheld.
“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.”
-Matthew 11:28
The tree seemed to echo these words not only to the bird, but to me. “All who are weary.” Not just the bird, but all creatures. And so, maybe the tree was being Christlike. It was definitely being pastoral, and it preached the kind of the sermon I needed today and have needed for a while. I still have so much to get done, but I have peace. Pondering the tree, or perhaps watching the bird pondering the tree, gave me something I needed.
Jesus, I recall, was held by a tree. We often think of the tree upon which Jesus hung as a weapon of torture. I’ve heard it referenced as the equivalent of our electric chair, for example. But what if that’s not fair to the tree? What if we thought of it differently? What if the tree was the greater Simon of Cyrene? Simon carried Jesus’ cross, but the cross carried Jesus himself in his most desperate hour. The tree was the greater Simon.
There’s some guy who carried a cross all over the world. There’s something significant about this, I suppose, but today I want to be the bird, not the guy lugging the cross. I know, I know, Jesus told us his disciples, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me” (Mt. 16:24). I agree and I want to take up my cross (or at least want to want to take up my cross). But Jesus also said, “I am the vine; you are the branches” (Jn 15:5). I’m going with that today. I want to be like the bird and find peace on the branch or, better yet, be the branch and know the rest of “abiding in the vine.”