Wisdom From an Arborist
Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?
Isaiah 43:18-19
One of the things we have enjoyed in the past months here in our rural setting has been the large herd of deer that roam through the surrounding woods. Their population has increased in recent years, and where once we might see 2 or 3 at a time, we now see them in families of 6 to 9, or more. Young and old. Once in a while spotting the antlers of a buck.
Usually, they content themselves with quietly grazing on the grass in our backyard. But as the green leaves disappeared, they started getting bolder, coming increasingly closer to the house.
On nearly a daily basis, either Gwen or I would call the other to the window. “Here they are again!” “Aren’t they beautiful!” “What a sight!”
Then the snow came to northeast Indiana. Eight inches followed a week later by over 11”. All the green was covered up – except for the arborvitae shrub line that had provided a nice screen for our pool for the past 9 years.
We looked out one morning and one of the evergreens had been totally denuded up to 5’ by the hungry deer.
The next day, another was assaulted. Then another. I found myself not welcoming Bambi and friends but watching out for them and trying to frighten them away.
It was a futile gesture. Eventually, all 6 of the 18’ shrubs were compromised.
All would have to be removed and replaced. YIKES! $$$$$!
Call for the Arborist!
I called one of our DDM partners who happens to be an arborist (tree specialist) and he said, “Yep, the Lord’s creatures get hungry and you just happen to have set the table. You can replace your bushes, but it will be a constant battle. This is a learned behavior. You will have to set up a deer fence every fall and take it down every spring.”
Then he said this: “What if you didn’t replant the arborvitae? What if you planted viburnum instead? It’s a deciduous shrub, losing its leaves in the fall. Though it wouldn’t provide you a year-round screen, it’s pretty much deer-proof and the leaves would come back in the spring.
My first response was, “But I liked the arborvitae. I want what we had.”
Then he offered this timely counsel: “As we attempt to deal with loss, all too often we try to recapture the past instead of moving into the future. Many people get stuck lamenting what once was instead of looking to what could be.”
I was immediately struck by the wisdom of his words. So, though we will miss them, we’ve decided to move from arborvitae to viburnum.
Past or Future
And then I thought, “Wow! His words go well beyond bushes! They can apply to so many issues.”
Think about it as it relates to the various losses that you have had to face. Perhaps the loss of church as you knew it. The loss of a job. The loss of strength due to aging. For some, there has been the loss of a spouse or family member to death.
Such losses are far more difficult to handle than mere shrubs. Yet the parallel remains.
Look at my friend’s words again: “As we attempt to deal with loss, all too often, we try to recapture the past instead of moving into the future. Many people get stuck lamenting what once was instead of looking to what could be.”
God’s Word offers some timely counsel along these lines.
“Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?" (Isaiah 43:18-19)
The Lord isn’t implying that the former things weren’t important. Nor is He saying that we are wrong to grieve their loss.
He’s saying that we shouldn’t let those memories paralyze us and keep us from moving forward. He is doing a new thing. To be sure, it will seem strange, not familiar. It might be a bit more challenging than comforting – at least initially.
But loss is part of life in this broken world. And God is fully capable of giving us a future and a hope. It might start out less than impressive – like our new viburnum will – but given a bit of time, it might well become a thing of beauty.
written March 1, 2021
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