Tree vs House

By Jason Fader 

Recently I moved a table onto our front porch for a place to do computer work, since the view of the green grass, tight hedges, and various fruiting trees was simply gorgeous.  I love landscaping here at Kibuye - in fact there are fewer things I enjoy more than listening to a John Piper sermon while mowing the lawn or trimming hedges.  And these few months towards the end of the rainy season here in Burundi provide ample opportunities for these activities. 

Recently I also noticed two trees near our house that were dying, and one was leaning somewhat precariously over our neighbor, Alyssa’s, house.  My brother Caleb called some local loggers to come cut down these trees before they caused significant damage by falling. 

During the felling process, ropes are used for pulling the tree in the desired direction.  Normally this works well, but on the occasion of felling these trees near our house, one of the ropes broke, which caused the enormous tree to fall directly towards our house.  Thankfully there was a robust avocado tree in its path, and the tree fell in the Y of the avocado tree, resulting in half of the tree precariously perching over our house!  After much mental maneuvering, we decided the best plan was to pull the half-felled tree through the Y in the avocado tree until it wasn’t suspended over the house and then chop it up from there.

So we chained the tree trunk to our 2 Landcruisers in parallel and put them in 4-low, and then we created all kinds of carnage to the perfect lawn as the tires dug in and spun and the trunk plowed right through a row of pretty hedges – but thankfully, the plan worked, and the house is still standing. 

Due to the misfallen tree, 3 others were damaged and so we had to take down a total of 5, which certainly detracts from the scenic view that I had loved gazing at from the front porch.  I have recently become interested in grafting avocado and mango trees so, not to worry, I have about 250 avocado and mango trees to choose from to replace these that have come down.

Maybe there is a lesson in all of this which I can mull over while mowing the lawn:  it is wise to deal with felling the dead trees before working on the hedges and grass, not the other way around.  The same seems to be true for landscaping – start with the trees, then bushes, then the flowers, then plant the grass.  I.e. get the big things in life figured out first, and the small things should come after.  Broad brush strokes, then the touch up.  Matthew 6:6 – “Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things will be added to you.”