Bradford Pears...

I love Bradford Pear trees. They are my favorite, and I love this time of year when they bloom with their fluffy, white flowers and bright, green leaves. I love to look at them as I walk or drive. In Charlotte, they line most of the roads I frequent and some of them spread their branches over the highway, so I feel like I am in a secret garden.

Yesterday, I went walking with Marianne in my neighborhood, and I commented to her on how much I love these trees. She quickly replied that they are beautiful but that she won’t ever plant one in her front yard. When I questioned her, she commented on how easily a Bradford Pear will break in a summer thunderstorm. They aren’t strong enough to withstand the pressure of the storm. Her comment reminded me of my parent’s house in Norwood, and of one of their Bradford Pears crashing down during a storm when I was in college and home with some friends.

Later in the afternoon, Andy and I went by his parent’s house and found his dad digging up a tree. While Andy went inside, I stood in the yard with his dad and talked about his work. He told me that they had had a big Bradford Pear but decided to cut it down because it was taking over the yard. That day he was digging up the roots of the tree with a tractor. He showed me how the roots, if left to their own devices, would eventually spread through the yard and to the sidewalk causing increasingly more damage. The roots would spread even without the tree, so he had to dig up the roots and then put down root killer before replanting the yard.

These two conversations reminded me of the Christian walk. As Christians, we strive to be beautiful and big for Jesus. We want to be the Bradford Pear that stands out from the other, more mundane, trees. We want to make a difference. But if we try to be big and beautiful without developing a strong faith in the Lord, we will come crashing down in the first storm. When things are difficult and it is hard to see what God is doing, we need a faith that tells us God is big, loving, and fair, and he can do anything. Serving others and being an example, first requires us to put ourselves firmly in the hands of Jesus so that we can be strong and sure and not easily swayed.

Not only is our strength important, but our roots are as well. We may look great on the outside, but underneath we have roots that are causing a heap of trouble. People might think we are committed to our faith and wonderful examples of the Christian walk, but they don’t see what we know are there – the roots that are on their way to causing problem after problem and reducing our effectiveness for the Lord. The roots like gossip, jealously, unforgiveness. The roots of a critical spirit or an angry heart. The roots of manipulation and pride. The roots are my problem. People don’t see them right away, but they will once these roots start to destroy their yards and sidewalks, and then my tree won’t be so beautiful anymore.

When I was talking with Andy’s dad, he made the comment that his job wouldn’t have been nearly so difficult if he had done it years ago when the roots were small. Pulling up tiny roots would have been a piece of cake compared to the current problem. It reminded me that when I see those destructive roots in my own live, it is my job to pull them up before they can go very far. If I wait for years, I will have a much bigger problem on my hands, and one I know I don’t want to deal with.