Echoes of Life in an Old Tree and Old House

Along my driveway is this huge walnut tree. I tried to use tools to estimate its age, but the range is too great to be accurate.  Having said that, I am getting estimates that start at around 165 to over 200 years old!

How many horses and carriages, tractors and cars has it greeted down the long lane?    How many thunderstorms has it stood up to?  How many little bird and squirrel families have sheltered in its branches? 

Has it ever been a hiding spot for a kid playing hide and seek, or a couple’s first kiss?  

Our house is over 160 years old, as well.  The previous owner gave me a copy of the censuses from the early 1900s, as well as a little booklet that describes some of the history of this area.  Together they faintly outline the story of a Mr. H. who built this house for his bride, Mrs. H., and they raised a family and had several farm and domestic hands.  

This house has seen the joys and sorrows and births and deaths of several generations of people within its nurturing walls, even after Mr. and Mrs. H.’s family moved on.  

The tree and house have been silent observers of the many souls who have traveled through here.  

And yet,  I don’t know anything about them, and it is likely that many of their descendants know very little about them, too. 

When I hear my brother-in-law reading the obituaries on the local radio station, I usually don’t change the channel.  I probably don’t know the person, but I feel rude if I just flip the station without giving a nod to the person whose whole span of life is now being summarized in a short essay that they didn’t get to read. 

The least I could do is pause my life and listen to it for a few seconds. 

This person was someone else’s world, provider, nurturer, friend, or even enemy.  This person’s life put a mark, for better or worse,–probably both– on his or her world, when they were here. 

It’s weird because each individual life matters.  It matters a lot!  (So much that Jesus died to redeem each one.) 

But, we also are just a “drop in the bucket” of billions of other people who have lived, are living now, who will be born, and who will die.  And most of us average folks will not be remembered by history.

So…..

Don’t take yourself too seriously.  

Some of the things we get all stressed out about are so very temporary.  

I can imagine when Mr. and Mrs. H. farmed here in the 1860s, I bet they were worried sick when maybe the cow was  having a difficult birth in the barn that one night, and they feared she  or her little calf might not make it. 

Or perhaps a couple of times Mrs. H. got annoyed when she thought Mr. H. made a comment in a “certain tone of voice, “ or they started a petty argument over the hinges of the front door (that are still here), or the dog, or something ridiculous like that.  (Don’t pretend you’ve never done this, lol.) 

Mr. and Mrs. H. didn’t care back in 1872 that I would be running 5 minutes late for my dentist appointment and yelling at the long stoplight in my air conditioned car.  Seriously!?!  Why is it so long? The receptionist is gonna give me that stink eye, like I am the most disorderly person in the solar system.  Which I probably am. They might even cancel my appointment and charge me 762 dollars. 

They didn’t know that my computer would turn off spontaneously in 1991, and I would lose my paper I was writing for Sociology that I waited until the night before to finish and now it is all lost in the electronsphere and I would now have to REWRITE THE WHOLE THING until 3 am!  (That was before autosave.  If you know, you know.)

Some of the stuff we get all amped up about is actually quite important at the time, and some of it is very silly.  But it is temporary.  If I could get that into my head, I think I would have a much more peaceful existence.  Probably gallons of cortisol and stomach acid have been squirted out collectively by us all in vain. Ew, that’s a little gross. 

Remember that the trials, though they are difficult, are not forever. 

I did get ahold of an obituary of Mr. H. at our local history museum, and I found out that he fell from a buggy and was injured badly, and his health deteriorated from there, and he passed away a couple of years later from complications.  How horrible that must have been for him and his family!  

I wonder if, in my own bedroom, a mother labored all night, with a midwife cooling her brow, only to find herself holding a little one whose eyes never saw the light of the morning sun coming through these same shutters on my window.  

I wonder if anyone ever received news that their son or cousin or brother’s life was senselessly snuffed out in an overseas battle. 

These are some of the hardest moments in life, and each one of us will have to wade through some kind of tragic or treacherous waters in our lifetimes.  

The trials will come.  As my pastor put it, it is sometimes necessary that they “run their course.”  

But, in the end, God is still there, and my eternity is beyond this temporal place. (I’ll talk about this more sometime). 

Remembering this fact is the only thing that will keep my head above water when the trials come.  

Psalm 90:2 “…from everlasting to everlasting, you are God.” 

Live today like you want to be remembered tomorrow. 

Think of what your obituary will say about you, and how people will remember you.  (See my Core Values posts if you want some ideas about this.)  

BUT: 

On the flipside, don’t hold on so much to the idea that you are more important than everyone else, because no one will truly remember you in 2 generations. 

Live fully today, “Redeeming the Time” 

Understand and realize the shortness of your life.  Your tree in your front yard and your house are probably gonna outlive you.  Live life with wisdom, knowing it is not forever.  

Psalm 90:12 “So teach us to number our days, that we may incline our hearts to wisdom.” 

Some other random thoughts:  

• 

  Have grace for yourself.  
• Have grace for others.
• Don’t knock people down in order to get to the stuff you want.
• When you accidentally do bump into someone, say you’re sorry. 
• Pick up someone else’s pack along the trip when they cannot carry it. 
• Say yes when someone else offers to carry your pack for a while if you need it. 
• Pass on wisdom you have learned to someone else before you die. 
• Listen to the birds when they sing.  Their lives are shorter than yours, and yet, they sing. (In reality, they are probably just fighting over territory, but it sounds a whole lot more romantic to say that they are singing a “Hello, Beautiful Morning” song! 😆)
• Don’t forget to laugh.

I’d love to hear your words of wisdom.  Add your thoughts to the comments.  There are too many for me to list, and you need to stop reading and go do that thing that you have to go get done because you are stressing out about it! 

Next time we see a big, old tree, maybe you and I can remember some of these things.