Balancing act

I've been waiting for the tree guy for a couple of months. Ever since this storm, more than a year ago, there has been tree work needing to be done, but when the top half of a large tree in the side yard crashed down the end of the summer, there was no way to put it off any longer. Finally, this morning I looked out the window and saw him, high in the branches of the large oak tree in my back yard.

Watching him I was mesmerized. Higher than I'd imagined one could climb in this tree, he perched on a limb, fastened his harness securely, hoisted up his chain saw and started trimming branches. In just a few moments he started to move higher. Careful, deliberate in his movements, he tested the branches as he went, wedging himself cautiously into place, adjusting his lines. Even his cutting was careful--he cut branches here and there and nudged them so that they fell cleanly away, not getting entangled on the way.

Still higher he went, towards the damaged limb that dangled precariously on one side. Using ropes he made his way up, up. The wind had picked up quite a bit, but it didn't' seem to faze him. I wondered what it was like up there, so high off the ground. Was he ever afraid? What was it like the first time he literally went out on a limb? Did he feel a sense of freedom, of abandon in his work?

One large damaged limb down, he made his way towards the dead limb that had been wedged into another when it fell. Now he had to extend himself out over the holly tree, and at one point he had one foot in the top of the holly and the other still on the oak. Patiently he cut away at small branches and gently worked the dead limb loose and let it fall, and then worked his way back to the central trunk of oak.
The tree guy does this work day after day--carefully balancing,watching his footing, discerning what is deadwood, what is still healthy, knowing how much to cut away, what to preserve. It's a lot like ministry, a lot like life. I long for the kind of grace the tree guy shows as I work to maintain my own balance, cutting out the deadwood, fostering new growth, knowing where to step next.