Tree!

December 21st, 2024| Topic: RaMbLeS | 0

There are, as you no doubt know, many ways to die. Diseases, accidents, just old age, etc., can take your life.

But this was a new one to me: death by Christmas tree.

Storm Pia hit Europe in December of last year, impacting the United Kingdom, southern Scandinavia, the Netherlands, Belgium and northern Germany, causing major disruptions in holiday travel, with many cancelled ferries, trains and flights, closed bridges and roads that had to be cleared, turned over trucks, as well as thousands of homes losing power due to downed power lines and a storm surge that reached up to 10 feet above normal.

In the Belgian city of Oudenaarde, Pia caused the fall of a large Christmas tree. Security camera footage showed that this brightly lit, 66-foot specimen slowly leaned over, and then collapsed next to a Christmas market in the historic town square. One woman was killed in the tragedy; a spokesman for the Oost-Vlaanderen province prosecutor said the victim was a 63-year old woman. (Two women from the same town were also injured.)

Of course, Christmas trees have oft turned homicidal. Fires of aforementioned bits of flora have resulted in 260 homes being incinerated, accompanied by 24 injuries, 12 deaths and 16 million in property damage over the years. Christmas trees and decorations result in twice the injuries and five times more fatalities per fire than the average holiday fire. Over 1,000 people a year also injured by decorating the tree and tripping over or stepping on ornaments, etc. Another 350 people a year are injured by Christmas tree lights—mostly when they tried to water their trees while Christmas lights were on. A 71-year-old woman fractured her hip, after she became dizzy and fell while taking down her Christmas tree. A 55-year-old woman suffered a head contusion after a Christmas tree fell on her head … in May (go figure). Who knew these pieces of greenery were lethal?

Bottom line: don’t go for those dangerous trees.

But the kind of trees described below, go for them!

Blessing [upon] the person who has not walked by the advice of the wicked,
οr in the path of sinners stood, nor in the seat of scoffers sat.
But, instead, in the law of Yahweh [is] his delight,
and in His law he meditates day and night.
And he is like a tree transplanted by canals of water,
which its fruit—it yields in its season, and its foliage—it does not wither;
and [in] all he does, he succeeds.
Not so the wicked; instead, [they are] like chaff which is blown away [by] wind.
Therefore the wicked will not rise up in the judgment,
nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous.
For Yahweh knows the path of the righteous,
but the path of the wicked perishes.
Psalm 1:1–6

Look at them, the wicked: walking, standing, and sitting (1:1; implied in the activities not engaged in by the righteous)—the nefarious person is constantly on the move, active, lively, dynamic. On the other hand, look at these, the righteous: these “meditate”—they are relatively static. Then, in 1:3, the verb “transplant” is employed of the righteous, a verb that denotes the very opposite of active movement: this “tree” is docked and moored and anchored to a water supply. And thereby, the righteous becomes fruitful, non-withering, and successful. This is the activity that matters to God: delight in his law, meditating upon his instruction for life (and consequently following it, of course).

This tree is worth emulating. This Christmas and forever!

SOURCE: Reuters