A Tale of Two Trees

Amidst all the healthy but leafless snow covered branches, one huge dead branch is poised like a jousting lance. It hangs suspended among the living branches, broken off and momentarily caught up by the twining limbs of those around it, notably a mighty oak and a gloriously beautiful maple. It will fall one day. I hope me (I?) or the dogs are not underneath at the moment when its friends can no longer support it.  It is in the neighbor's yard so we can't technically remove it, but it hangs perilously close to our fence.


The branches supporting it are getting tired. Winter winds can be fierce and bark is brittle in the cold. The unexpected snow lies heavy upon them.
The branches are beginning to complain.  They are chatting amongst themselves and are beginning to talk mutiny.
"I say, cut it loose. It is dead weight, good for nothing!" says Oak.
"But the squirrels still nest in it, and the woodpecker finds it exceedingly easy to peck," counters kind-hearted Maple.
"Yeh, and every time he does, it is like a jackhammer waking me up every morning. I say just let it go. It is never going to live again anyway, it is not contributing to our beautiful leaf show, and in all likelihood, it is going to end up reflecting badly on all trees when it inevitably falls and flattens some one's precious child. It no longer has strength or beauty and frankly I am tired of its whining."
"And," chimed in the Dogwood, from across the yard, "It is depressingly silent or mumbles when the wind whispers through all our limbs. We speak so grandly with the voice of the breeze that has traveled across the world. It's boring. Without leaves it has very little to say."

"But it is family," said Maple, "Don't you remember how we all started off together, just little saplings bragging about how someday we would tower over the houses? We made it! The branch made it! If we drop him now, he will just get eaten by the dung beetles and roly-polys."

"So what?" snaps Oak,"That is the way of the world. The strong and beautiful thrive and the weak turn into sawdust."

As the discussion continued, a cardinal alighted on the broken branch. It was tired, and cold, and hungry. It found a small hollow in the dead wood and rested there, somewhat protected from the wind. It snapped up a small grub wriggling under the flaking bark. Its bright red plumage was resplendent against the snow.  It will not end well for the branch, but for a little while yet, Maple has convinced the others to hold on to it. His most persuasive argument was from the Bible, surprisingly. The trees being so close to Heaven have much of it memorized.
"Just keep in mind," warned Maple, "If you cut others asunder, you may yourself one day be dealt with similarly. And God who nourishes the root could even yet have a use for that broken branch."
"Yeh, yeh," grumbled the Oak, but he kept his tangled twigs around the heavy and despairing branch.

Romans 11: 17-21
 ¹⁷ If some of the branches have been broken off, and you, though a wild olive shoot, have been grafted in among the others and now share in the nourishing sap from the olive root, ¹⁸ do not consider yourself to be superior to those other branches. If you do, consider this: You do not support the root, but the root supports you. ¹⁹ You will say then, “Branches were broken off so that I could be grafted in.” ²⁰ Granted. But they were broken off because of unbelief, and you stand by faith. Do not be arrogant, but tremble. ²¹ For if God did not spare the natural branches, he will not spare you either.