We received this beautiful Japanese Maple as a gift a few weeks ago. We planted it within a couple of days, and Rachel has kept it watered. Well, Rachel and the weather have kept it watered.
A couple of days after we planted it, we noticed the prevailing southerly winds were causing the tree to lean. So I secured it with twine.
About a week later a storm jostled it a little, and a hole opened where we (now obviously) had not put enough dirt as we were planting the tree. Last night’s storm knocked the poor little tree around a little more. It has now settled into its place a bit more, and requires yet more dirt to be added to shore it up.
I realized this morning that what I wanted in a tree was more plug-and-play, one-and-done, throw it in the ground and move on to something else.
You know, the way we treat much of the world around us? Sometimes we even treat people this way.
Souls, and bodies for that matter, just don’t work this way. We are a lot of work! Most of this work is regular, routine, and to borrow a favorite word of one of my pre-teens, boring. These regular routine things we learn to do, though, over time, change us.
It’s why we are called Methodists
I guess I’ll give the tree a little more attention.
everyday theology 