If a tree falls in the woods does it make noise if no one sees it fall? Well, let me tell you.
Today I was hiking on the Mingo (As in the Mingo Indians) trail in the Akron Metroparks. The trail is up and down through a valley created by glaciers long ago. Those Mingo Indians must have been fit. The trail goes up and down the hills, changing elevation hundreds of feet several times. At the tops of the hills I think oxygen tanks should be installed. As I approached the summit of one of these hills my day got interesting.
Trust me it makes noise when it falls!
I heard a thunderous crash. I sped up to see what happened. A large ancient tree laid on the ground. You could tell it just fell. The limbs of other trees quivered. The sun shined brightly through the new opening. A family of chipmunks sat weeping on the trail. OK I made that one up, but wasn’t it a good line? All told it was one of the most dramatic and traumatic events I have ever witnessed in the wood.
I walk on the trails through the woods all the time. It is hard (impossible) to walk without seeing a fallen trees. Some big, some small. Some freshly fallen, others on their way to returning to the earth as they rot out. Too many to even keep track of. Isn’t life like that?
As I walked through Highland Square later this morning (The five miles in the woods wasn’t enough) I had a thought. There were people everywhere. How many of them have trees fall in their lives? A group of eight people waited for the bus. Was one waiting there because they lost their job and couldn’t afford a car? I wonder if any of them looked back at me and thought “This guy lost his son.” I’m sure I walked by many who were recently divorced. A group of teens sat on a wall. Statistically one of them was being abused at home. You couldn’t tell which one by looking at them.
People don’t announce that their tree has fallen. I have yet to see a lady walking through Highland Square with a sign that says “My husband died of cancer two months ago.” Yet the obituaries are filled with names every day. Our trees are like those in the woods- pervasive, continually falling, and almost always silent. Is there something we need to do about that?
How many trees are falling around you that you aren’t paying attention to?
First we need to walk with kindness, sensitivity, and empathy. Those who go through such events need to grieve. The only sign we may see is their depression and or anger. When a stranger seems out of it do you ever ask if they are OK? The person yelling at you in the checkout line may have just gone through something tough. They may just need a smile back or a kind word to help them through the moment. And letting them know Jesus loves them maybe the lifeline out of their hopelessness and despair. One does needs to enter these moments realizing that the person may not be ready for a kind word or Jesus. That doesn’t absolve us from trying to be God’s servants of love. And this should happen with every person we encounter.
The trees in people’s lives also reinforce the need to pray globally. I truly believe you don’t need to know someone to have God answer prayers. It is easy to include family and friends in prayer. If we work at it we include church leaders, politicians and even our enemies. But how about a prayer for all the kids who are sick and/or are hungry? Or maybe praying for God to strengthen families? Do you pray for the homeless? I need work in this area. I guess I’ll have to be selfless enough to give a whole minute of my life to include these folks in my morning prayers.
We do see some of these trees fall. We go to the funeral of a wife who has lost her husband of 50+ years. We may even bring them a casserole or call them on the phone after the funeral. But trees that fall don’t go anywhere for a longtime. That wife will still be grieving a year later, perhaps in a different way, but none the less grieving. Have we asked her then how she is doing? We may have a food drive for a family we know in need. But that family will still need help even when they get back to work. That is easy to forget. We really need to remember all of these folks for a lot longer than is our habit.
We may need to tell folks when we need to be heard
I hope you don’t have many trees fall in your life. When they do I hope others hear them. That is usually not the case. People are not mind readers. Also most of us are naturally selfish and worry about our own problems first (myself included). We will need to let others know when we are going through tough patches. Then we need to brace ourselves for the responses. When people listen they feel a need to help. They don’t realize the listening is the help. Guys you may want to re-read that last sentence. Therefore people feel the need to dispense advice which is often misses the bulls-eye. Just know their intentions are good. If you are the advice giver try “let me know if there is anything I can do to help.”
I hope you are blessed to take a walk in the woods without a tree falling today.
God Bless,
Mark
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