Man vs. Tree: Fear isn't a bad thing

Inspiration

By Charles Towne

The hounds of knowledge always send the lions of fear running.

I like that idea.

I have had enough animal encounters, not just a few of which were enough to raise the hackles of fear on my scrawny little neck. I was no bigger than a wart on a toad’s behind when I climbed a tree the first time. It was one of those strange moments in life when curiosity overruled common sense, and soon, quite mysteriously, I found myself Waaay up there.

Now "Waaay up there is not a bad place to be until you look down. I looked down. "Yikes, how did I get Waaay up here? What if I fall! What if I break my arm, my leg, my neck? Boy, I am going to get a good switching if I break my neck." I’m sure I originated the term, "tree hugger." I’m also sure I left little boy nail prints in the skin of that tree.

Scared? Me scared? I wasn't scared, Terrified maybe, but not scared.

I knew that some time way in the future they would find a little fossilized boy wearing a fear induced grimace, way up there in that tree. And speaking of starving to death it must be getting close to dinnertime!

Oh dear God, I was going to miss dinner, and mama had baked an apple pie! My fear of missing out on the apple pie was incentive enough. Inch by inch I worked myself closer and closer to the ground, until…? I never knew standing on the ground could feel so good!

And then I broke my toe when I kicked the tree.

I went home and was in plenty of time for dinner, and in spite of the fact that my toe hurt like blazes I ate a big piece of apple pie, and do you know what? I went back the next day and climbed that tree again, and I went through the same agony, the same fear, all over again. Eventually I learned to love that old tree. By God’s grace, as we face our fears they become much less threatening, and just perhaps they even add spice to our lives. Boy, do I miss mama’s apple pie.

Live fully,

Love openly,

And make a difference, today