As I left the house early this morning, I was blessed with the beauty of a clear, pre-dawn sky. The planets Venus, Jupiter, and Mars were all in view. I wished I could stay home from work and enjoy the wonders in the heavens above. I felt short-changed. Denied something I wanted. Then I realized the paradox. If I didn’t have to go to work, I would not have gotten out of bed in time to see the beautiful sky. How did I not see that coming?
The walnuts woke me up last night. They fall from the tree beside our house onto the roof, making a terrible racket in the process. My poor roof suffers from the pounding.
Every year I think “This is the last year I am putting up with that.” A few weeks ago I even crawled on the roof to take care of the issue, but it was already too late.
A Walnut Tree Hangs Over My House
My plan was to cut off the limbs that were hanging over the roof with a pruning saw. As I started to saw on the limb, it started to shake. Not a good scenario with a bunch of ripe walnuts hanging over my head. I briefly considered topping my bald head with a motorcycle helmet I had stashed in the garage. Perhaps an acceptable plan B, but I couldn’t deal with the thought of my neighbors driving by and seeing me standing on the roof of my house wearing an old motorcycle helment while playing dodge ball with a tree intent on pelting me with black walnuts. After a few more minutes of timid sawing and pondering the danger, I gave up and slinked off the roof. The tree trimming would have to wait until next year.
Now the walnuts are falling pretty regularly, making me flinch during the day and waking me up in the night. For some strange reason, it reminds me of Chicken Little who cried, “The sky is falling!” when he got hit on the head by an acorn. As I narrowly escaped being bonked by a black walnut, I realize Chicken Little might not have been as crazy as he first seemed.
Here’s the thing: Chicken Little wasn’t wrong about the sky, he was just wrong about the timing. One day the sky will fall. And when that day comes, I don’t want to be running around looking for a motorcycle helmet. I want to be prepared.
I looked when He opened the sixth seal, and behold, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became like blood. And the stars of heaven fell to the earth, as a fig tree drops its late figs when it is shaken by a mighty wind. Then the sky receded as a scroll when it is rolled up, and every mountain and island was moved out of its place . . . “For the great day of His wrath has come, and who is able to stand?”
– Revelation 6:12-14,17 NKJV