Too Funny

If I had only known how this story would have turned out, I would have taken pictures along the way. I bet no one saw this coming.

So.... one of our neighbors has a hedge that is some sort of spruce (maybe). Over the years since Ray and I have lived in the neighborhood, there has at times been some sort of Dr. Seuss tree growing out of the middle of the hedge nearest the road. When we first noticed it, it was just a tender shoot of a branch with a couple of leaves right above the top of the shrub.

The keeper of the hedge would periodically prune it, which I can only guess meant he just trimmed it off even with the shrub. I guess for at least the last year it has been allowed to grow.

Ray and I have had more than one discussion on the subject as we would pass by wondering how this would end.

It must have been about two weeks ago when I first saw the answer to all of our pondering. It was a good thing I was driving the neighborhood speed limit, because I might have wrecked. I did speed up a little after I saw it. I couldn't get home fast enough to see if Ray had noticed it too.

Of course he had. How could he not?

I would think that it started out a lot like this little oak, that is one of about a hundred that we have already pulled up this spring.






And I guess they just decided it was easier to give in than to keep pruning away.
This is what they have ended up with...





You can see the tree at the mailboxes. The trunk isn't that big yet, but look at all the branches and leaves. But that's not the only thing...






They have completely taken out the hedge that the tree was growing in. Which led to pruning all the hedges with a brand new summer doo. Added a truck load or two of mulch, pavers, a flower bed, and a flower pot.


So that's what sparked this thought. It reminded me of a sermon that I heard Alistaire Walker preach a long time ago. Pruning doesn't always get it, sometimes you have to get to the very root of a situation. Aren't we too many times like my neighbors? We go to extraordinary lengths to accommodate our sin, when if we would go to the root of our problems and address them there, they would be over and done.


If you read my blog a while back about that big old ugly sin in my life, you'll remember I thought it was all about me needing the money more than God. Truth was, the root of the problem didn't have anything to do with the money. It was an issue of pride.


Moral of this story.... if you have something growing in your yard and you don't think you want it there - better pull it out by the roots today so you won't be paying out the wazoo to make it look all pretty and nice, like it was what you had in mind all along.
And, if you have a little habit that has not taken deep roots, better yank that too. That kind of paying out the wazoo is twice as hard as the other.

Happy weeding, pruning and the like!

And, if B & J read this, please don't be offended. The finished product looks great. It's just been a curious thing to watch as we drive by each day.