I was lying in my hammock last week on one of those wonderfully hot windy Oklahoma days. My husband is adamant that I need more vitamin D. So of late, I have tried to go out and simply lay in the embrace of my hammock, beneath the sheltering branches of my pecan trees and soak in the rays of diffused Vitamin D.
As I lay there watching the sway of the mighty limbs above me, I heard an intermittent "pop", "pop". I stared at the spot where just last fall a horrible windy storm broke off the tops of my pecan trees and left them precariously dangling from the main trunk. 
Some of these limbs had already fallen, but they weren't much bigger than a rosebush trellis, so I lay there looking at the shredded limb and wondered how long it could hang onto the tree. I wondered how one could get up there to trim it. As I lay there pondering, I realized that should that limb decide at that very moment to break loose, by the very angle in which it dangled, it would drop directly on my head.
I got up. I prayed, "Lord, help me find a way to get that thing down safely."
Later I told my hubby about the creaking and popping that I took as a warning. I wondered if there was any way he could get up there and trim it. I told him how I felt about that gigantic 30-foot limb that hung by, what appeared to me, a few grains of wood. Hubby went out and looked at the limbs and said, "Nah. They don't look like they'll fall. And even if they did, they won't fall there." I usually trust my husband's opinion completely with things. Just the submissive lady I am, I guess. But for some reason, I didn't have much faith in his evaluation. I replied:
"Well, I don't think I'm going to lie in that hammock till all these windy days are over in Oklahoma." (If you know anything about Oklahoma, that meant on most days I wouldn't be venturing out to collect much Vitamin D.) Well, hubby scoffed and reaffirmed his evaluation.
A new day. The following day I went out to water Rowdy. Lo, and behold, look what lay in the middle of my hammock:
Can you believe it? God, in His omniscience, forewarned me. Now, odds are I could have missed the fateful moment when the limb came crashing down. But then who knows? Nevertheless, that is not the point I wanted to make with this post. The real point is that from my husband's perspective, standing there looking up into the trees, he could not see what I saw from my vantage point. I was lying in the hammock. I could see the angles. I could even see the fragmented limbs. Sometimes we make judgements and finalize decisions based on a limited view of things. Such was the assessment made by my husband.
When I saw the size of that limb, I shivered at the thought I'd had the day before. It was 9 inches in diameter. The force that dropping 20 feet above me from that tree could very easily have killed me had I been lying there. It further sent chills down my spine when I considered how my darling grandchildren loved to lie in it and stare at the sky and listen for the Cardinals whistle. Is God not great? I had no way of getting that limb down safely unless I found a tree-trimmer. Hubby wasn't all that worried about it. But God honored my desire and met my need before I or my grandchildren could be harmed. He brought that thing down with a whisper of His breath.
There are many things we are warned about in the Word of God. He even gives us His Holy Spirit to punctuate His cautions. God has an angle on life that we often do not, cannot, or will not see. He has provided accounts of saints, and the wisdom of Solomon to show us the way. He wants to keep limbs of circumstance and branches of consequences from crashing down upon us. He seeks to protect us and give us the wisdom to know when to get out of harm's way. His guidance is available to all. It is infallible. Oh that we would heed His alarms and alerts even when we cannot see what lies ahead in the hammocks of our lives. selahV
[copyrighted, SelahV Today, 2008]
