Waste not; want not

I seriously love trees.  In fact, forested landscapes are on the top of the list of my favorites.  I remember the thrill of exploring the woods as a youngster at Girl Scout camp, and conquering that amazing (although not altogether safe) tree house in our neighborhood. At this writing (July), the leaves are fully out and lush green, and our eldest just did a preschool unit on trees with our two-year-old granddaughter.  The sooner she learns that trees are our friends, the better!

God evidently thinks so, too.  As the recently

Open your hand, and…voila!

My husband is not a lumberjack, but he’s not afraid of hard work either.  I think I’ve told this story before, in a bit more detail perhaps, but it’s still one of my faves:

One of our notorious Midwest storms had blown through, and in its wake we had an intimidatingly sizable branch in our side yard.  All Bob had was an axe, and so out he went to get started.  Not long into what he expected to be hours of work, a friend “just happened” to drive by and invited Bob to use his new chainsaw.  Whew! 

Still, it was quite a bit of timber now piled up, but—low and behold!—here comes some young men with a flat bed, and $30 later our yard was cleaned up.

But it all started with Bob’s axe in hand.

Segway to the scene described below: God is talking to a very hesitant hero-to-be, gearing him up for the important adventure of