"Ashes to Ashes, Dust to Dust"

I love that even an old, dead tree falls at God’s command.

I’d had my eye on it for years… a large ash tree that lost its battle with the Emerald Ash Borer, as did almost every single one of its brethren in forests across North America in the early years of this century.

Eventually it joined the thousands like it… a standing dead pole, its bark gradually dropping off as it stood dead on its “feet”. One by one these victims of the tiny insect were cut down for safety or aesthetic reasons, or left to fall on their own.

The latter was the case of this particular tree, located just beyond the chain-link fence that rings my yard. I’d been watching… waiting… and wondering which way it would fall… whether it would lean into the waiting arms of the forest behind it, or fall forward, smashing my fence and possibly hitting my deck and the kitchen beyond. Every new windstorm blew in a fresh wave of worry that perhaps its time had finally come.

Yesterday I was eating breakfast in my kitchen when I heard a loud “whomp.” Instinctively I knew that the tree had fallen at last, and rushed outside to see the damage.

To my incredible surprise, there was none! I went to the fence for a closer look. Rather than falling in one direction or another as a straight stem, the tree trunk had collapsed upon itself, segments of it lying on top of each other (almost neatly stacked!) at its base. Few trees nearby had been impacted, my fence was intact, the enclosed yard clear of debris, the house also safe! Surely this was a miracle – definitely not the way I expected the scenario to play out.

And I think I know why. Even the trees of the forest and their demise are under the control of the One Who made them and set them to stand in all their former glory. They live and grow at His direction. And He calls them back to the earth from which they came, likewise in the way He sees fit.

God knew I have been worrying about this tree and what would happen when it fell. Likewise I have been worrying about aging relatives… even my own future… as we approach the time when God calls us back to our “roots.” We tend to try and manage our own outcomes in various ways – listing our wishes and directives for others to follow when we can no longer speak for ourselves.

I needed the reminder that God, Who knows our end as well as our beginning, has the situation in hand. Just as He ordered that tree to let go and simply sink in on itself, so does He have instructions that our own bodies will follow when the time comes.

Let the tree be a lesson to me – again! – not to waste my time worrying about things that He already has under control.

“Remember the former things of old, For I am God, and there is none like me, Declaring the end from the beginning, And from ancient times things that are not yet done, Saying, “My counsel shall stand, And I will do all My pleasure,’”

(Isaiah 46:10 NKJV)