Good News: Survival

Many of you know that St. Louis is crazy in the weather department yet I will confess I really enjoy watching a good rain storm. They can also be very scary and cause a lot of damage which becomes more worrisome when you own a house with old trees. One night early fall I was awaken by a very loud storm and was a little frightened. I immediately found myself praying that if a tree went down that it would not damage my house, my shed or my play area then went back to sleep.

I remember sometime in the night hearing a very loud crack but I didn't worry about it and again went back to sleep. The next morning I discovered a large tree had fallen in my yard and it took with it the main part of one of my pear trees. Unfortunately I did not think to pray for my pear tree.

I got a lot of help cleaning up the tree (and I also got some poison ivy) but I was a little unsure of the fate of my pear tree. We had a cold winter but now it is spring and while this picture is hard to see, because of the branches of the tree behind it, you can see that my tree survived! See how it is fuller on the right than the left, would you believe the left was the bigger half. Never mind that it is lopsided, it lives and that is a happy thing. I love spring! I really love this picture because you see new life in front of the sever damage of the missing limb and it reminds me of hope in adversity.